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THE FAIRY BABIES 


Books by 

LAURA ROUNTREE 
SMITH 


Bunny and Bear Book, The 
Bunny Boy and Grizzly Bear 
Bunny Bright-Eyes 
Bunny Cotton-Tail Junior 
Candy-Shop Cotton-Tails, The 
Children’s Favorite Stories 
Circus Book, The 
Circus Cotton-Tails, The 
Cotton-Tail First Reader, The 
Cotton-Tail Primer, The 
Cotton-Tails in Toyland, The 
Drills and Plays for Patri¬ 
otic Days 
Fairy Babies, The 
Games and Plays 
Hawk-Eye and Hiawatha 
Language Lessons from Every 
Land 

Little Bear 
Little Eskimo 

Merry Little Cotton-Tails, The 
Mother Goose Stories 
Primary Song Book 
Roly-Poly Book, The 
Runaway Bunny, The 
Seventeen Little Bears 
Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes 
Tale of Bunny Cotton-Tail, 
The 

Three Little Cotton-Tails 


Published by 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO 









THE FAIRY BABIES 


By 

Laura Rountree Smith 


Illustrated by 

Dorothy Dulin 


1924 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

Chicago 


COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 




PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

JUN ! B 1924 

©C1A801476 
•vifi I 



CONTENTS 


Page 


N 

( 

<r 

<v 

i 

3b 


Chapter I 

The Magic Pitcher. 7 

Chapter II 

The Fortune Teller. 16 

Chapter III 

Thanksgiving Dinner. 29 

Chapter IV 

The Little Dwarf’s Christmas. 39 

Chapter V 

A Wonderful Dream. 50 

Chapter VI 

The Magic Spoon. 64 

Chapter VII 

The Magic Kites. 77 

Chapter VIII 

The Magic Rocking-Chair. 91 

Chapter IX 

May-Day .103 

Chapter X 

Vacation Time. 114 













u And they put the key in the lock ” (Page 89) 
































































































THE FAIRY BABIES 


CHAPTER I 

THE MAGIC PITCHER 

Said the Fairy Ink-Bottle Babies, “ What do you 
think? 

We all came out of a bottle of ink! 

We are very little to mind each rule, 

But still we are going to start to school; 

And if we remember, it starts in September! 

This old-fashioned thing called school! ” 

Said the Fairy Ink-Bottle Babies, “ What fun! 
See, school has already begun! 99 

The Fairy Ink-Bottle Babies sat in a row. They 
looked as though they would roll off the top of the 
desks at any minute. 

“ You are almost as bad about rolling over as 
the Roly-Poly children / 9 said the teacher. 

“ Oh! oh! oh! 99 cried one of the Ink-Bottle Babies. 
“ I am rolling over!” 

Sure enough, thump! bump! thump! she went. 
She fell off the desk to the floor, leaving the marks 
of her little black feet behind her. 

7 


8 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


“ Oh! oh! oh! ” cried all the Ink-Bottle Babies to¬ 
gether, “somebody pick her up! Somebody pick 
her ,up! ” 


The teacher was so scared that she went out of 
the room. 

Pretty soon all the children went home. What 
do you suppose happened next? 

The Fairy Ink-Bottle Mamma came 
down from the window sill and picked 
up her baby! 

She said, “ You are too 
little to go to school; you 
had better come with me.” 

Then the other Ink-Bot¬ 
tle Babies set up a cry, 
“ May we come, too, Ma? 
May we come, too? ” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma 

“ Picked up her baby ” f ^ ^ d ° Wn <^7 

rrom the desks and you may 

all come.” 



Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies crept down and 
followed their Mamma out of the door. They 
walked a little way until they came to their home 
in the woods. 

“I am so sleepy,” said the first Ink-Bottle 
Baby. 




THE FAIRY BABIES 


9 


“ I am so sleepy/’ said tlie second Ink-Bottle 
Baby. 

Then all but one of the twenty-five Ink-Bottle 
Babies said, “ I am so sleepy! ” 

One Ink-Bottle Baby said, 66 I am not sleepy at 
all. I rolled off the desk and I feel wide-awake! ” 

This little Baby’s name was Molly. The Ink- 
Bottle Mamma put all of her babies to bed except 
Molly, and Molly said, 

“ I am wide-awake as if it were day, 

I’ll sit on the parlor rug and play.” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma was so sleepy herself 
that she did not know what to do. Pretty soon 
she said, “ Listen, Molly, and I will tell you a 
fairy tale.” 

Then Molly cried, “ I must wake Polly up to 
hear the fairy tale.” Polly was Molly’s twin 
sister. 

Will you believe it? Before the Ink-Bottle 
Mamma could say “ No! ” Molly had gone up¬ 
stairs and had waked all the Babies up before she 
found Polly! 

The Ink-Bottle Babies looked so much alike it 
w T as hard to tell them apart! 

All the Ink-Bottle Babies woke up and cried, 


10 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


“ We want to hear the fairy tale, Ma! Please 
tell us all a fairy tale! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “Get back 
into bed, every one of you, and I will tell you a 
story.” 

Then the Babies all crept back into bed and their 
Mamma told them the story of the Magic Pitcher. 

Here is the story she told: 

Once there was a little dwarf who lived alone in 
the woods. He lived in a little blue house with 
a red chimney. He was very proud of his red chim¬ 
ney. He painted the chimney every spring. 

The little dwarf was very good-natured except 
when he started to cook. He could not cook a 
decent meal to save his life. He went about all 
day humming a little song: 

“ I can live without clothing and live without books, 

But how is a fellow to live without cooks'? ” 

One day as he passed by a little brook he sang 
this song, and the brook said, 

“ If you take the pebbles from out this brook, 

I will try to help you find a cook! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


11 


Then the little dwarf stooped down and began 
to pick the pebbles out of the brook. 

At last, only one large stone remained. ITe 
pulled and tugged with all his might, and at last 
the brook ran merrily along, for he got the big 
stone up on the bank. 

The brook sang, 

“ Look again, now I am free, 

The magic pitcher you will see! ” 



The little dwarf looked down into the brook, 
and sure enough, there was a magic pitcher all 
blue and gold. The water ran deeper now, in the 
little brook, so the little dwarf had to 
dive down after the pitcher. 

He came out choking and sputtering, 
but he had the magic pitcher in his hand. 

Then he ran homeward sing¬ 
ing and whistling all the 
way. He sang: 


“ I can live without 
clothing and live 
without books, 

But how is a fellow to 
live without cooks? ” 


“ He poured once more 







12 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


He got some bread and cheese out of a cupboard 
and drew the pitcher full of water, and sat down 
to his lonely meal. 

He started to pour out a glass of water, and as 
he poured it from the magic pitcher, it turned into 
fine, rich milk. He poured once more, and this time 
it was honey that came out of the magic pitcher. 

He tried again and out came tea! So it went 
on. Every time he poured from the magic pitcher, 
out came something delicious to drink. 

The little dwarf grew so happy and healthy that 
when he went into the woods to chop down trees 
he could chop down six trees while the 6ther little 
dwarfs could only chop down one. 

He never sang any more about wanting a cook, 
and he seemed so happy that the other little dwarfs 
were jealous of him, and they said, u We will find 
out his secret.” 

So, one evening when it was late, they all crept 
to the house where the little dwarf lived, and they 
all peeped in at the window. 

There sat the little dwarf by the table pouring 
from his magic pitcher. He poured out coffee, and 
cream, and molasses! 

My! the other little dwarfs turned green with 
envy. They said, “We will have that pitcher.” 

They opened the door, ran into the house, seized 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


13 


the pitcher, and ran away, away, away, into the 
deep woods. 

The little dwarf was so sad, he went to the brook 
again and said, 

“ The dwarfs have carried my pitcher away, 
Alas! alas! alackaday! ” 

“ I will fix them,” said the little brook. “ You 
were so good to take all my stones away, you shall 
soon have the pitcher back again; never fear.” 

Then the little dwarf went back home singing a 
merry song. 

Now the dwarfs had carried the pitcher away 
with them, and when they had run for a long time, 
they saw a little brook, winding in and out among 
the’trees, and they said, u We will fill the pitcher 
with water.” 

So the first little dwarf ran and filled the pitcher 
with water. Then he ran back to his companions 
who sat in a circle, and began to fill their glasses. 
They all set up a shout, for out of the pitcher came 
only thick mud! 

“ You have played a trick on us,” they cried. 

Then the second little dwarf went and filled the 
pitcher. 

“ It is pure water,” he said, but when he went 


14 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


to pour from the pitcher, lo! and behold! out came 
vinegar! 

Then the third little dwarf said, “ Let me try,” 
and the next said, “ Let me try,” but each time 
there came out of the pitcher something quite unfit 
to drink. 

Then the dwarfs said, “ This pitcher is of no 
account after all; we will throw it into the brook.” 

They said, “ If the little dwarf finds it again, 
he is welcome to drink all the mud and vinegar 
he wants.” 

Then they threw the pitcher back into the brook, 
and the brook carried it safely back to the place 
in the woods where the little dwarf passed every 
day. Pretty soon the little dwarf came along. He 
sang, 


“ Ha! ha! Ho! ho! What do I see? 

A beautiful pitcher floats in to me! ” 


He filled the pitcher with water and soon poured 
out a fine drink of buttermilk. 

He ran home as fast as his legs could carry him, 
and he hid his pitcher safely away. 

He worked at home very busily all that day. 
He made shades for his window, so no one could 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


15 


look in. He put a lock on his door, and he made 
a little key to fit the lock. 

“ Now, no one can see what I pour from my 
pitcher,’’ he said, “and no one can come in, unless 
I invite him.” 

He went to bed and slept well. Late that night 
a most remarkable thing happened. Five and 
twenty little men came to his door and they rapped 
and they tapped, and he would not let them in! 

Then they laid down five and twenty little par¬ 
cels on his doorstep and they crept away. Next 
morning the little dwarf went to his door and saw 
the five and twenty little parcels. They were all 
from the grocery store. 

On each parcel was written, “ Compliments from 
the little dwarfs, with thanks for the borrowed 
pitcher.” 

On one package was written, “ Don’t drink too 
much mud and vinegar! ” 

The little dwarf went to the brook and asked 
what all this meant. When the brook told him 
he laughed until he cried. 

The little dwarf may still live in the woods, for 
all I know, and he may still be drinking out of 
his magic pitcher. 

As soon as the Ink-Bottle Mamma stopped talk¬ 
ing all her Babies went to sleep. 


CHAPTER II 


THE FORTUNE TELLER 

October, October, you gay little rover, 

You are welcome, the wide world over; 
Merrily, merrily, school-bells ring 
And children all delight to sing. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies are absent to-day, 

Or perhaps they lingered upon the way; 

I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies sigh, 

“ We are busy bidding the birds good-bye! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies woke up cross. Every one 
of them got up out of the wrong side of the bed! 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma called, “ Hurry, hurry, 
or you will all be late to school! ” 

Then Molly called, “ I can’t find my shoes,” 
and Polly called, “ I can’t find my dress,” and all 
the Ink-Bottle Babies set up such a wail that the 
Ink-Bottle Mamma had to come upstairs and help 
them dress. 

She said, “ My dear children, will you never 
grow up? ” 


16 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


17 


“ Give us a ride, please! ” 



When they sat down at the table, Molly said, “ I 
don’t want this oatmeal,” and Polly said, “ I don’t 
want any either.” 

Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies said, “ We don’t 
want any oatmeal! ” 

They laid down their twenty-five little spoons. 
And will you believe it? Not one of the Babies 
would eat any breakfast! 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamina said, “ Get down 
from your chairs, every one of you.” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies got down from their chairs, 
pouting and scolding. Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma 
put on their caps and sent them right off to school. 



18 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


“ Hurry! hurry! ” she said. “ Don’t be late for 
school! ” 

They had not gone far when the first Ink-Bottle 
Baby said, “ I will not go another step! 99 

Then the second Ink-Bottle Baby said, “ I will 
not go another step! 99 

Then what do you suppose happened next? They 
all sat down in a row and they cried and they 
screamed and they howled! 

Just then an old farmer came along .with his 
wagon. 

When he saw all the Ink-Bottle Babies in a row, 
he said, “ Bless my heart! What funny little babies! 
What are you all doing here? 99 

Then Molly and Polly cried, “ Give us a ride, 
please! We don’t care which way we go! ” 

Then the farmer got down and helped all the 
Babies into his wagon and they rode merrily 
away! 

They laughed and talked and said, “ Oh! ” and 
“ Ah!” and “ What a fine ride! ” 

When they rode by the school they kept very 
still, and they all crept down in the bottom of 
the wagon. 

On and on they rode, through the woods and 
into a town and away off to a little red house on 
a farm. 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


19 


“ Will you spend the day with me?” asked the 
farmer. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “ We will! We 
will! ” And they jumped up and down with joy. 
They had a fine time all day. They saw the sheep 
and pigs and cows, and they took turns riding 
on a little pony. 

When night came Molly and Polly cried, “ We 
want our Ma! We want our Ma! ” 

The farmer’s wife was very deaf, but she saw 
that all the Ink-Bottle Babies were crying at once, 
so she gave each one a cookie. The cookies had 
red sugar on them. They had raisins in them. 
The Ink-Bottle Babies cried and would not eat 
their cookies. 

Then the farmer’s wife took Polly on the right 
arm of her chair, and she took Molly on the left 
arm of her chair. Then she let all the rest of the 
Ink-Bottle Babies crowd around her. 

Next, the farmer’s wife put on her spectacles 
and opened a great red book. Then all the Ink- 
Bottle Babies clapped their hands and set up a 
shout, for they could see the name of the book. 

It was called “ Tip-Top Fairy Tales.” 

The farmer’s wife smiled at the Babies and 
began to read slowly. She skipped the hard words 
and stumbled over the easy ones! 


20 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


If you do not like to listen to her read, you will 
have to read for yourself the story of Goldy and 
Brownie, or The Fortune Teller. Here is the story: 

Once upon a time there were two sisters. They 
were as different as they could be. 

Goldy was good and beautiful. Brownie was ugly 
and cross. 

One day Goldy said, “ I am going down into the 
valley to see the Fortune Teller. I am going to 
have my fortune told.” 

Brownie said, “ You shall not go. I am afraid 
you will have a better fortune than mine if you 
go first.” 

Then Brownie tied Goldy into a chair and she 
went out of the house and locked the door. 

Brownie said, “ I will have my fortune told 
first.” 

She went into the valley where an old Gypsy 
lived. She knocked at the door and the Gypsy 
called out, 

“ Cross-Patch, pull the latch, 

Sit by the fire and spin; 

Cross-Patch, pull the latch, 

Open the door, come in.” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


21 



“ She stamped her foot ” 


Brownie was a little afraid to pull the latch at 
first, but as the Gypsy did not speak again she 
knew she must do something, so she pulled the 
latch. The door opened, and she went into the 
house. 

She said,You cross old woman, I want my 
fortune told.” 

The Gypsy looked at her and said, 

“ You may bake and brew, 

But whatever you do, 

You 11 uglier grow each day; 

But make a wish, just make one wish, 
Make a wish and go away! ” 


22 THE FAIRY BABIES 

Brownie was so angry she stamped her foot and 
said the first thing that came into her mind. 

She said, “ I wish I had a fine fur coat to wear 
all the time.” 

Then the Gypsy touched her with her cane, and 
her dress turned into a fur coat, and Brownie her¬ 
self turned into a caterpillar! 

“ There! ” said the Gypsy, “ I guess you have a 
fur coat to wear all the time.” 

The Gypsy forgot one thing. She forgot to take 
away Brownie’s voice, so she could talk as well as 
ever. 

Brownie went crawling slowly home. She called 
out to Goldy,' 

“ Go to the Gypsy, whatever you do, 

A very fine fortune waits there for you! ” 

She really hoped that the Gypsy would turn 
her sister into a caterpillar, too! 

Then Brownie sighed, for she remembered that 
she had tied Goldy into her chair, and that she 
could not get away if she wanted to. 

Pretty soon a prince came by and Brownie cried, 

“ The beautiful princess sits in a chair; 

Just take a peep in the window there! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


23 

The prince was so surprised to hear a voice and 
see no one, that he cried out, 

“ What shall I do? What shall I do? 

I’ll peep through the window to see if it’s true.” 

Then he tiptoed to the window so softly his feet 
never made a sound, and sure enough, there he 
saw Goldy sitting in the chair — tied in, fast asleep. 

The prince tried to get into the house. He tried 
the front door, and the back door, and the side 
door, and all the windows. At last he found a 
window that would open. He sat on the window 
sill and cried, 

“ Golden Hair, will you come to me? 

May I come in and set you free? ” 

Then Goldy woke up. She had read about 
princes, but she had never seen one before. She 
w T as so surprised she only nodded her head. 

Then the prince came in and cut the cords that 
bound her. 

Goldy said, “ Thank you! 99 Then she went and 
made the prince a cup of tea. 

They were about to sit down and enjoy the tea 
when a dove flew in at the window. It had a mes- 


24 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


sage tied round its neck. The message was for the 
prince. It said, “ Come home at once. Your father 
is ill.” 

So the prince took off his cap with the big 
feather in it, and made a bow. Then he went out 
of the window as suddenly as he had come. 

Goldy said to herself, “I will go to the Gypsy 
and have my fortune told. Perhaps I shall meet 
the prince again.’’ 

So she put on her blue dress and sunbonnet, 
and went to the house where the Gypsy lived, and 
knocked at the door. 

The Gypsy said, 

“ Cross-Patch, pull the latch, 

Sit by the fire and spin; 

Cross-Patch, pull the latch, 

Open the door, come in! ” 

Then Goldy opened the door and walked in. 

“ Will you tell my fortuned ” she said. 

The Gypsy liked Goldy, but to save her life she 
did not know how to tell a very good fortune, so 
she said, 

“ Whatever you do your wish will come true, 

So make it, I pray, and go quickly away! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


25 


Goldy was wishing in her heart that she could 
see the prince, so she said at once, “ I wish I 
could fly.” 

Then the Gypsy touched her with her cane and 
her blue dress turned into a shining 
pair of wings. She became a beau¬ 
tiful blue butterfly, and sailed away 
and away in the sunshine. By and 
by she sailed into the king’s garden. 

The prince came out and cried, 

“ Oh what a beautiful butterfly.” 

Then Goldy told him what had 
happened and she said, “ Go to the 
Gypsy and see how I can be 
changed back again.” 

Then the prince went in a 
hurry to the Gypsy, you may 
believe. When the Gypsy 
heard him knock she cried as 
before, 


r She 



66 Cross-Patch, pull the latch, 
Sit by the fire and spin; 
Cross-Patch, pull the latch, 
Open the door, come in! ” 


The prince opened the door and made his very 





26 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


best bow and said, “ I wish Goldy were changed 
back into a beautiful girl and standing here beside 
me.’’ 

The Gypsy nodded her head and soon a blue 
butterfly came floating in through the window. The 
Gypsy said a magic verse, and changed the butter¬ 
fly back into the girl Goldy. 

Then Goldy and the prince thanked the Gypsy. 
They were married at once, and they went to live 
in the king’s palace. They were not so happy 
as they had expected to be for Goldy cried all 
day, “ I miss my sister Browmie. Go and find 
my ugly little sister.” 

The prince went out to look for Brownie. He 
traveled high and low but he could not find her. 

Then Goldy went out to look for her sister. She 
went to her old home and she heard a voice say, 

“ I am as lonely as can be, 

Sister Goldy, come to me! 99 

Then Goldy cried, “ Here I am. Where are you 
hiding, little sister? ” 

Then Brownie told about her being changed into 
an ugly caterpillar, and they went together to the 
Gypsy. 

The Gypsy was sitting on her doorstep and Goldy 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


27 


cried out, “ See, I will give you this golden dish 
if you will change the caterpillar into my little sis¬ 
ter.” 

The Gypsy liked the dish and she said a few 
magic words and changed the caterpillar into the 
girl Brownie. 

Brownie was now so happy that she was good- 
looking. Many a young prince came and fell 
in love with her but Brownie was so happy to 
live w T ith her sister and the prince, that she sang 
a very merry song: 


“ I have lovers four and twenty; 

One or two would be a plenty; 

And I am as happy as happy can be, 

Since the old Gypsy set me free.” 

One day there came to the palace a little lame 
prince. He was as ugly as a barb-wire fence, but 
Brownie let him in. She gave him a cup of tea 
and said: 

“ I have lovers four and twenty; 

One or two would be a plenty; 

And I am happy as happy can be, 

Since the old Gypsy set me free.” 


28 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


The little lame prince said, “ I am ugly and no 
one loves me. Will you marry me? ” 

Brownie said, “ I will marry you.” And they 
were married in the rose garden, and they grew 
better looking and happier every day. 

Whenever they saw sick caterpillars or butter¬ 
flies with broken wings, they took care of them. 

Brownie and Goldy each had a home near the 
king’s palace, and they were happy all their lives. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “ Is that all? Tell 
it again! Tell it again! Please do! Read it or 
tell it! It is a lovely story! ” 

The farmer’s wife said, “It must be bedtime.” 
They looked at the great clock that stood in the 
hall, and the clock said it was ten o’clock! 

“ I am going home to-morrow, and I am going 
to school,” said Molly. 

“ I, too,” said Polly. 

“We, too,” cried all the Ink-Bottle Babies. “We 
are all going to learn to read that story.” 

Then they scampered upstairs and went to bed. 

Just as they were about to go to sleep, Molly 
said, “It is awful to have to spell out the words 
like the farmer’s wife does.” 

Polly said, “I am going to learn to read! ” 


CHAPTER III 


THANKSGIVING DINNER 

Old November’s come once more; 

Children, see the snow! 

Riding out in grandpa’s sleigh, 

We all will gladly go, 

For Thanksgiving brings such joys 
To the waiting girls and boys; 

I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies sigh, 

“ Please give us a piece of pumpkin pie! ” 

Next day the farmer hitched up his horses and 
took all the Ink-Bottle Babies home. 

They said, “ Oh Ma, we want to learn to read. 
Oh Ma, we will go to school every day ! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma kissed all her babies 
and sent them to school. 

They wanted so much to learn to read fairy 
tales that they never .missed a day of school, 
from the 16th of October to Thanksgiving. 

The day before Thanksgiving Molly began to 
cry on the way home from school. Then Polly 
began to cry! Pretty soon all the Ink-Bottle Babies 

29 





“ They never missed a day of school ” 




















THE FAIRY BABIES 


31 


took out their twenty-five little pocket handker¬ 
chiefs and began to cry! 

When they got home Mamma said, “ Why do 
you cry? ” 

The first Ink-Bottle Baby said, “ I don’t know, 
boo-hoo ! ” 

The second Ink-Bottle Baby said, “ I don’t know, 
boo-hoo ! ” 

Polly said, “ I am crying because Molly is 
crying.” 

Molly said, “ I am crying because we have no 
grandma and grandpa to go to see on Thanks¬ 
giving Day.” 

Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies said, “ We want 
a grandma and grandpa, boo-hoo ! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “ Dry your eyes, 
and I will tell you what to do.” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies dried their eyes 
and Mamma said, “ Suppose we go and spend 
Thanksgiving Day with the farmer and his wife ! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies clapped their hands and 
shouted, “ Hurrah ! hurrah ! ” 

When they had stopped their noise, Mamma 
said each Baby should take a pie in a little basket 
to the farmer and his wife. 

Then she took the Babies to the pantry and 
showed them twenty-five little pies all in a row. 


32 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


The Ink-Bottle Babies were so anxious to start 
that they said, “ To-morrow will never come ! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma knew a few things to 
make the time pass, so she said, “ Who will 
sweep my floor'? Who will dust my chairs? Who 
will wipe my dishes? 99 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all set to work at 
once, and they swept the floor and dusted the 
furniture, and they wiped the dishes, and soon 
the work was all done. 

At bedtime the Babies said, “ Three cheers for 
the farm. Hurrah for the farmer and his wife ! 
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day! ” 

Then they all went to bed and fell asleep. 

Early next morning the Ink-Bottle Babies were 
all ready to start. Each one carried a basket. The 
Ink-Bottle Mamma locked the house and put the 
key under the doormat. Then they were all ready 
to go. 

They walked a long way, and were getting quite 
tired, when a man came along in his automobile. 

He said, “ You cunning little Babies, where are 
you going? ” 

Then the Babies shouted, “We are going to 
the farm. We are going to see the farmer and 
his wife, and we are taking them some pumpkin 
pies ! 99 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


33 


The man said, “ I will take you to the farm 
if you will give me one or two of your pies ! ” 

He said, “ I have not tasted a pumpkin pie for 
forty years ! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies wept to think of a man 
not tasting a pie for so many years, and they 
all crowded around the automobile and cried, 
“ Take mine! Please take mine! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma stepped up and 
said, “ Please Sir, w^e need all these pies to-day, 
but if you care to give us a ride and then will 
call at my house to-morrow you may have all 
the pies you can carry.’’ 

The man was delighted, you may be sure. He 
helped the Ink-Bottle Mamma right into the auto¬ 
mobile and called to the Babies, “ Pile in, one and 
all ! ” 

Soon they were all riding merrily along the 
road. 

The man allowed Polly and Molly to blow the 
horn and they rode right into the farmer’s yard 
and right up to his front door. 

The farmer’s wife came out and cried, “ Bless 
my soul! What a fine automobile! And bless my 
soul ! Here are the Ink-Bottle Babies again ! ” 

Then the farmer heard the noise and came out 
and said, “ Bless my buttons ! Let me count the 


34 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Babies ! Yes, they are here, every last one of 
them ! ” 

Then he caught sight of the Ink-Bottle Mamma, 
and he bowed to her politely and helped her out. 

The man who owned the automobile looked at 
the farmer and said, “Will you have a ride, good 
people? ” 

Now the farmer and his wife had never ridden 
in an automobile in their lives. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “ Go right along; 
don’t mind us; we will get the dinner ! ” 

The farmer said, “Wait till I get some turkeys 
and ducks ready for dinner,” and the farmer’s 
wife said, “Wait till I make a few dozen pies ! ” 

At the word “ pies,” the Ink-Bottle Babies set 
up a shout, and each one made a low bow and 
presented the farmer’s wife with a little pie. She 
was so surprised that she hardly knew what to 
say. 

The farmer called, “ Put on your old gray bon¬ 
net! ” Then the Babies began to sing, 

“ Put on your old gray bonnet, 

With the blue ribbons on it ! ” 

Then the stranger said, “ You are very sweet 
singers ! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


35 


Soon the farmer and his wife were ready, and 
they went whizzing away in the automobile. Then 
the Ink-Bottle Mamma began to cook the turkeys 
and many other things, and the Ink-Bottle Babies 
had the table all set by the time the farmer and 
his wife returned. 

Did they have a big dinner? Well, I guess they 
did. They had turkey and duck, and sweet-pota¬ 
toes and white potatoes, and squash, and carrots, 
and rice, and jelly, and pickles, and pudding, and 
cranberry sauce, and cake, and ice cream, and 
pumpkin pies ! 

The farmer and his wife said, “ We never had 
such a happy Thanksgiving before ! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “ Hurrah for the 
turkey! Hurrah for the pumpkin 
pies! ” 

After dinner the Babies begged for 
a story. They said, 

“ Read us a fairy tale; 
please read us a fairy 
tale! ” 

The farmer’s wife 
said, “ I have broken 
my glasses and I can¬ 
not see to read, but Pa , . , , ., 

__ . , ,, “ Presented the farmers mfe 

will tell you a story! w i th a mie pie ” 




36 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Then the farmer grew quite red in the face and 
said, “ I don’t know any fairy stories; honestly I 
don’t ! ” 

“ You know about the fox and the crow,” said 
the farmer’s wife. 

Then the Babies climbed up on his chair and 
on his knees and there was no way out of it; he 
had to begin: 

“ There once was a crow, and at early morn 

He spied the farmer’s field of corn; 

He said, ‘ As sure as I am born, 

I’ll have that corn, heigh-o! ’ ” 

“ Go on! Go on! ” shouted all the Babies. “ Tell 
about the fox. Please tell us some more.” Then 
the farmer said: 

“ There once was a fox so very sly 

He knew that farmer’s field hard by; 

‘ To catch the crow, I’m going to try,’ 

Said the fox with a soft heigh-o ! ” 

Then the farmer stopped. The Babies begged 
him to go on but he said, “Honestly that is all 
I know.” 

“ Bid the crow get the corn? ” asked Molly. 

“ Bid the fox get the crow? ” asked Polly. 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


37 


“ I don’t know,” said the farmer. “ How can 
I tell about such things'? I only went to school 
one year in all my life.” 

“ Oh,” said the Ink-Bottle Babies, “we intend 
to go to school for seventeen years ! ” 

“ That is right,” said the farmer; “ then you 
will learn all about the fox and the crow.” 

Just at this minute, the farmer’s wife set up 
a cry. “ Oh see the cunning little baskets ! See 
the twenty-five little baskets ! We must not send 
them home empty! ” 

Then she whispered something in Molly’s ear, 
and she whispered something in Polly’s ear, and 
each Ink-Bottle Baby whispered to the next one. 

Then they carried their twenty-five little baskets 
with them and they all scampered down to the 
cellar. The farmer’s wife went with them and 
showed them five barrels of apples. 

The farmer’s wife said, “ Help yourselves. Fill 
your baskets full.” 

What fun they had, picking apples first out of 
one barrel and then out of another ! 

They were all ready to start home at last, 
when the farmer said, “ Where are the apples 
for the Ink-Bottle Mamma? ” 

Then the farmer’s wife gave her a bag of ap¬ 
ples and a bag of nuts. 


38 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


The farmer hitched up his horses to the wagon, 
and the Ink-Bottle Mamma and the Ink-Bottle 
Babies all piled in. 

“ Crack ! ” went the whip, and they were off 
and away singing and whistling as they went. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said to the farmer, “ It 
is very kind in you to take us home in your 
wagon ! ” 

The farmer said, “ I never had twenty-five 
grandchildren, and I love every one of your 
babies. ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies began to get sleepy. 
They tried to remember the story the farmer had 
told and they said, 

“ There once was a fox at early morn.” 

“ No ! That is not right ! ” said Molly. 

Then they tried it again, and they said, “ There 
once was a farmer’s field of corn.” 

“ No ! no ! ” shouted Polly, “ that is not right.” 

The farmer had to tell the story again, and 
the Babies repeated it after him in a singsong 
way: 

“ There once was a crow, and at* early morn 

He spied the farmer’s field of corn; 

He said, t As sure as I am born 

I’ll have that corn, heigh-o! ’ ” 


CHAPTER IV 


THE LITTLE DWARF’S CHRISTMAS 

Old December’s come again; 

Stockings large and small, 

Hang by the fireside with care, 

For Santa’ll fill them all; 

I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies cry, 

“ Santa will in his sleigh dash by; 

We always like to have him call, 

For we have stockings large and small ! ” 

It was December and Christmas was coming. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies said, “ May we hang up 
our stockings now? May we hang all our stock¬ 
ings in a row? ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies all talked at once. They 
made such a noise that the postman had to rap 
five times before he could be heard. 

Then Molly said, “ Hush ! Listen ! I hear a 
knock ! ” 

Polly went dancing to the door and came back 
with a letter in her hand. The letter was ad¬ 
dressed to the Ink-Bottle Mamma. 


39 


40 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


She opened it and said, “ The farmer and his 
wife want us to go and spend Christmas day with 
them! They say, ‘ Tell the Babies to bring their 
stockings/ ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies were glad, you may be 
sure. 

They clapped their hands and shouted, “ May 
we go, Ma! Say yes, Ma. Please let us go ! ” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, u We will go with 
pleasure/’ 

The days passed very fast after that, and it was 
almost Christmas time; and all would have gone 
well, I am sure, but two days before Christmas 
Molly was taken sick, and Polly said, “ I don’t 
feel well either/’ 

Then what do you suppose happened? All the 
Ink-Bottle Babies came down with the measles. 

I They cried and they howled, “ We can’t go 
H away on Christmas Day! Oh dear! Oh 

When they had 
stopped their noise 
the Ink-Bottle Mam¬ 
ma said, “Never 
mind, Santa Claus 
will not forget you.” 
Then the Ink-Bot- 




THE FAIRY BABIES 


41 


tie Babies dried their eyes. They began to think 
about Santa Claus. 

Toward evening a package was left at the 
door. It said, “ For the measley Babies from the 
farmer’s wife.” 

When the Ink-Bottle Mamma brought the parcel 
upstairs the Babies cried, “ Untie it quickly; 
please do, and let us all see what is inside ! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma untied the parcel, 
and took out a big red book ! The book was 
called “ Tip-Top Fairy Tales.” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies were so happy they for¬ 
got all about the measles, and they cried, “ Please 
read us a fairy tale.” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma laughed and sat dowm 
and read to them. And here is the story she read: 

There was once a little dwarf who lived all 
alone in the deep woods. He was so cross that 
no one would live with him. One evening as he 
sat alone by his fire he heard the tinkle, tinkle, 
tinkle, of sleigh bells. 

“ Santa Claus, maybe,” he said, “ but what do 
I know about Santa Claus? I never hung up 
my stockings in all my life.” 

Nearer and nearer came the sound of sleigh 
bells. Then there was a great shout, and the 


42 


THE FAIRY BABIES 



“ Brushed Santa Claus all over ” 


little dwarf went out to see what had happened. 
Now what do you suppose had happened? 

Santa Claus had driven into a snowdrift and 
he could not get out. His sleigh had tipped over 
and his toys had spilled upon the snow. 

Santa Claus was half buried in the snow 'when 
the little dwarf ran out and cried, “ Hello, old 
Santa Claus ! Can’t you get out? ” 

The little dwarf pulled and tugged at the rein¬ 
deer, and he pulled and tugged at Santa Claus. 
Then he went for a snow-shovel, saying, “ You 
are so big I will have to dig you out ! ” 

He dug Santa Claus out of the snow. Then he 
and Santa picked up the toys, and put them all 
safely back into the sleigh. 

Then the little dwarf whisked into the house and 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


43 


came back with a tiny broom and brushed Santa 
Claus all over, and helped him shake off the snow. 

Poor old Santa Claus was so wet and cold he 
began to sneeze, “ A-kit-chew! a-kit-chew! ” 

The little dwarf stamped his foot and said, 
44 This will never do ! Come in and get warm ! 
Come in and dry your whiskers ! ” 

Then Santa Claus laughed until he shook all 
over, but he was very glad to follow the little 
dwarf into the house, though he had to stoop 
to get in at the doorway. He said, 

“ A bowl of soup if you please, 

Will help Santa not to freeze! ” 

The little dwarf stamped his foot again and 
shouted, 

“ What do you suppose? What do you suppose? 
Shall I stir soup with my ugly nose? ” 

Old Santa Claus laughed and said, 

“ Ha! ha! ha! hee! hee! hee! 

Make for me a cup of tea! ” 

The little dwarf stamped his foot again and 
said, 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


44 

“ What do you think? What do you think? 

Can an ugly dwarf make tea to drink? ” 

Then the little dwarf was gone for a long time 
and Santa Claus almost fell asleep. He shook 
himself to keep awake. 

He* said, “I must not go to sleep to-night of 
all nights in the year ! ” 

Then he said, “ I wish the dwarf would hurry. 
I wish he would get me some tea.” 

Then Santa Claus began to sing a little song: 

Jolly, jolly Santa Claus 
Rides out across the snow; 

Jolly, jolly Santa Claus 
Brings nicest toys, you know; 

Hang up your stockings large and small, 

For Santa Claus will fill them all; 

Late at evening he will call, 

Jolly Santa Claus ! 

All the time Santa Claus was singing, the cross 
little dwarf worked away in the kitchen. 

He rapped and he tapped and he mixed and 
he stirred, and after awhile he came in and said, 

“ Last call for soup in the dining car! 

Hurry, old Santa, wherever you are! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


45 


Santa Claus .went into the kitchen and there 
was the nicest supper you ever saw ! 

The little dwarf yelled, 

“What do you think? My dishes are small, 

So I gave you the bucket, the dish-pan, and all ! ” 

Then Santa Claus laughed until he cried, for 
sure enough, there was the soup in the little 
dwarf’s dish-pan, and the tea was served in a 
bucket ! 

Santa Claus was so very hungry that he ate 
and drank all the food that was before him. 

Then he rolled his eyes and said in a half 
whisper, “ Did you ever hang up your stocking? ” 

The little dwarf stamped his foot and cried, 

“ What? ho ! ho ! I am foolish I know, 

But I do not hang up my stocking, no ! no ! ” 

“ All right,” said Santa Claus, “ I must be 
going. If you change your mind about the stock¬ 
ing, it will be all right.” 

Then Santa Claus put on his great fur cap and 
his great fur coat, and the little dwarf stood be¬ 
fore him and he stamped his foot and cried, 


46 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


“ I never hung up my stocking at all, 

I never believed old Santa would call.” 

The little dwarf ran out into his barn and got 
a great armful of hay. It was all he could do to 
carry such an armful. He fed Santa’s reindeer. 

And Santa Claus said, 

“I thank you kindly, have a care, 

You may find a stocking there ! ” 

Then Santa Claus gave a whistle and shout and 
his reindeer bounded over the snow. 

“ I will not hang my stocking up ! ” roared the 
little dwarf, and he stamped his foot in the snow. 

Soon Santa Claus was out of sight. Then the 
little dwarf went back into his house. 

When he got into the house, he winked and he 
blinked his eyes, and he was so surprised that he 
forgot to scold, for by the fireplace hung a little 
red stocking ! 

“ I did not hang that up ! ” shouted the little 
dwarf. “ I did not hang that up ! ” 

He took a peep into the stocking, and w T hat do 
you suppose he saw? There in the stocking was 
a little gold cane, just the right size for a little 
dwarf. 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


47 


“ Well,” said the dwarf, “ that is a pretty nice 
cane, but mind you, I did not hang that stocking 
up! ” 


By and by he went into the kitchen to wash 
his dishes, and-imagine his surprise to see all his 
dishes dry and hanging in their right places, 

“ I want my own supper! ” he roared. 

Then he lifted a plate from the shelf, and under 
it he saw a new penny. Then he took a spoon 
from the drawer and out rolled another penny, 
so it went on, until he got down the dish-pan to 
wash his dishes, and a whole bag full of pennies 
rolled down and nearly choked him! 

Then the little dwarf looked at his pennies and 
he laughed until he cried. 

“ I can never count them all,” he 
said. He put all the pennies in little 
piles. 

“ I shall be quite rich,” he cried. 

“ I wish Santa Claus would call 
again.” 

Then the little dwarf went back 
and looked at his gold cane. He 
walked up and down the room 
with his cane in his hand. ^ ^ 

“ I wish Santa Claus had * 
left another red stocking,” he roUed down „ 




48 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


said. “ I would like to wear fine red stockings! ” 

Then he tripped on the edge of the rug and he 
rolled the rug up and saw another red stocking 
and a red cap and a pair of red mittens! 

He was so happy he shouted with delight, 

“ Old Santa is a merry elf, 

And I will have a care, 

When Christmas comes again next year, 

My stocking will be there! ” 

Then what do you suppose that comical little 
dwarf did? 

He put on his red cap and his red stockings and 
his red mittens, and he just curled up on the rug 
and went to sleep! 

The Ink-Bottle Babies fell asleep long before the 
end of the story was reached, but the Ink-Bottle 
Mamma liked the story so well that she read it on 
to the end to herself. 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma went to bed. It 
was now Christmas Eve. 

Bid Santa Claus remember the Ink-Bottle 
Babies, and did he fill all their stockings full? 

Well, I guess he did! and the Ink-Bottle Babies 
all woke up early and cried, “ Oh Ma! please 
bring us our stockings/’ and the Ink-Bottle Mam- 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


49 


ma brought in twenty-five stockings full of ap¬ 
ples and nuts and toys. 

But the great joy of the day was still to 
come. Molly and Polly had their beds near the 
window and they cried, “ Oh Ma, here comes a 
farmer’s wagon! ” 

Sure enough the wagon came and stopped right 
at their door. Out jumped the farmer and his 
wife! 

The twenty-five Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “ Hur¬ 
rah! hurrah! hurrah! ” and the farmer and his 
wife called, 

“ Twenty-five babies, all in a row; 

This is Christmas day, you know! 99 

Then the farmer and his wife made a bow and 
the Ink-Bottle Babies clapped their hands and 
shouted, “ Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” 


CHAPTER V 


A WONDERFUL DREAM 

January now is here, 

The first glad month of all the year; 

Get your sled and snowshoes out; 

The coasting is good without a doubt; 

We are so merry and glad, ho! ho! 

We like the winter’s ice and snow; 

I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies say, 

“ Snow-men we’ve made all the day! ” 

One Saturday in January it began to snow, and 
down came the flakes bigger and bigger. 

By noon the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “ There 
is enough snow now to make a snow-man! ” 

“ How can we make a snow-man ? ” asked Molly. 

“ Please show us how to make a snow-man,” 
said Polly. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma shook her head. She 
said, “ I am too stiff and old to make a snow-man.” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all began to talk 
at once and they said, “ Will no one show us 
how to make a snow-man? ” 


50 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


51 


Then the Mamma said, “ Hush! Listen! Stop 
your noise! ” 

Then the Babies were still and they heard the 
far-off tinkle of sleigh bells. 

Molly cried, “ Oh, is it the farmer again? ” 

Polly cried, u Oh, are we going to have com¬ 
pany? ” 

Then the twenty-five little Babies were very 
still. They flattened their little noses against the 
windowpanes, and looked out into the great white 
world. 

Nearer, nearer, nearer, came the tinkle of 
sleigh bells, and very soon a cunning little sleigh 
came in sight. 

In the sleigh were seated two dwarfs. They 
were as much alike as two peas. 

They stopped right in front of the house and 
got out of the sleigh. 

They ran to the door and asked, “ Can you tell 
us if we are on the right road? 99 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma bowed and said, “ It 
all depends on where you are going, gentlemen! 99 

“ It always depends on where we are going,” 
snapped the first little dwarf. 

The second little dwarf said, “ We are not gen¬ 
tlemen at all, we are only dwarfs! ” 

Just at that minute, the first little dwarf caught 


52 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


sight of the twenty-five Babies with their noses 
still flattened against the windowpanes, and he 
cried, “ Excuse me, but I must have one of those 
Babies.’’ 

“ Oh! oh! oh! ” cried the Ink-Bottle Mamma. 
“ They are not for sale. You cannot have one 
of my Babies.” 

Then she shut the door quickly and left the 
two little dwarfs standing on the doorstep. 

“ I want one of the Babies! ” howled the first 
little dwarf. 

The second little dwarf took him by the arm 
and led him down the walk back to their little 
sleigh. 

“ I wonder if they live in the deep woods,” said 
Polly. 

“ I wonder where they were going,” said Molly. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma went and kissed every 
one of her Babies. 

She said, “ They cannot have any of my Babies. 
I cannot spare one of you! ” 

The old clock sang a new song. It sounded like 
this: 

“ Tick, tock, tick, tock, 

They’re very sly, very sly, 

Tick, tock, tick, tock, 

They may return by and by.” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


53 



“ A whole row of snow-men 


The Ink-Bottle Mamma pretended that she did 
not hear the clock’s song, and she said, “ Hurry, 
hurry into your caps and mittens and I will tell 
you how to make a snow-man! ” 

Then the twenty-five Ink-Bottle Babies put on 
their caps and mittens, and went out doors. 

Mamma called to them to roll the snow over 
and over. Each Baby rolled a snow-man. 

“ Put in sticks for arms,” she called. “ Make 
eyes, and mouth, and nose.” 

My! what a jolly time the Ink-Bottle Babies 
had! 

They made a whole row of snow-men, and they 
worked so late that the stars came out and began 
to twinkle. 

Then twenty-three of the Babies said, “ We are 




54 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


cold and hungry. We are going into the house / 1 

Molly and Polly said, “ Run on; we are not ready 
to go in yet.” 

So the twenty-three Babies ran in and found 
Mamma making gingersnaps in the kitchen. 

Then Molly said, “ Hark! what is that'? ” 

Then Polly said “ Hark! I hear something.” 

Just at that minute a tiny sleigh drew up at 
the door. It was the same sleigh that had been 
there before. 

In the sleigh sat the two little dwarfs. They sat 
very still. They had hidden their sleigh bells. 

The first little dwarf jumped out of the sleigh 
and whispered to Molly and Polly, “ Have a sleigh 
ride? We will bring you home again safe and 
sound! ” 

Then Polly said, “ We must ask Ma.” 

And Molly said, “I will ask Ma.” 

The little dwarf winked his eye and said, “ I 
have asked* Ma already! ” 

So Molly and Polly got into the sleigh and they 
bounded away, away, away over the snow. 

Why didn’t the Ink-Bottle Mamma come out 
and stop them? She was busy making ginger- 
snaps! 

66 Are you warm enough? ” asked the first little 
dwarf. 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


55 


Then the second little dwarf began to sing in 
a drowsy voice, 

“Heigho! over the snow, 

Away in our little sleigh we go; 

Heigho! hear the merry winds blow; 

Away, away, away we go! ” 

Pretty soon Molly and Polly went to sleep. 

When they woke up they found themselves in 
the cutest little house in the world. They were 
in the house of the two little dwarfs! 

The little dwarfs capered and danced about 
them and said, “ You are the cutest Babies in 
the world. Come and see grandpa! ” 

They went into the next room and there sat 
a very old dwarf. He stared at the Babies and 
said, 

“ I am two thousand years old. Pray tell, how 
old are you? ” 

“ Say you are two hundred,” said the first 
little dwarf, stamping his foot at grandpa. 

Grandpa shook his head and said, “ I have 
always been two thousand years old as long as 
I can remember.” 

He pointed his finger at Molly and Polly and 
said, “ Can you tell the time? ” 


56 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Then he took a large gold clock out of his 
pocket. “ I always carry a clock,” he said. “ I 
don’t believe in watches. They run fast or slow.” 

Then he turned to the little dwarfs, and said, 
“ Speaking of time, is supper ready? ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies stared at the clock. They 
could not tell the time. 

They said, u We must learn to tell time; there 
is so much to learn! ” 

Just then the two little dwarfs said, “ Come 
into the candy room,” and they all skipped into 
the next room. 

There were bookshelves of candy and sofas of 
candy, and chairs of candy! 

Molly and Polly clapped their hands with de¬ 
light. 

“ Eat all you want to! ” said the little dwarfs. 

“ Eat a chair! ” shouted the first dwarf. 

“ Eat a table! ” shouted the second dwarf. 

“ Oh! oh! oh! ” cried Molly and Polly, “ we 
must not eat up your furniture, but it does look 
good.” 

“ Eat it all! Eat it all! We have plenty 
more! ” roared the dwarfs. 

Then Molly ate a leg of a table and Polly ate 
the corner of the bookcase. 

Just at this time grandpa came in. 



(( He was leaning on a cane made of candy 99 


















































58 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


He was hobbling along leaning on a very pretty 
cane made of striped candy! He made a funny 
appearance, indeed. 

“ Supper time,” he called. “ Supper time, I 
say.” 

Then the two little dwarfs offered grandpa a 
candy rocking-chair, and they ran and got on the 
cutest little aprons you ever saw. 

They went to the kitchen stove and began to 
fry and bake and stew, and by and by they called, 
“ Supper is ready; soup is served.” 

They had a nice supper and grandpa was so 
hungry he ate with a fork and spoon at the same 
time! 

Molly and Polly had eaten so much candy they 
could not eat any supper. 

Grandpa said, “ That is the way our visitors 
always do.” 

Then he pulled the clock out of his pocket and 
said, “ Tell the time, please.” 

Molly and Polly said, “ We are sorry but we 
do not know how to tell the time.” 

“ That is too bad,” said grandpa. “ If you want 
to enjoy life, you must learn to tell the time.” 

Just then one of the little dwarfs began to pour 
out a glass of milk from a very strange-looking 
pitcher. 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


59 


“ I wonder if that is the magic pitcher? ” whis¬ 
pered Polly. 

Polly whispered so loud that the little dwarf 
heard her. 

He was so surprised that he dropped the pitcher 
and it broke into one hundred pieces. 

The room began to melt away and Molly and 
Polly woke up and rubbed their eyes. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma was shaking them. 

“ You poor dears! ” she said. “ Are you almost 
frozen? You have been asleep in the snow! ” 

Then she carried Molly and Polly into the house. 

They rubbed their eyes again and cried, “ Where 
are the little dwarfs? Where is the old grandpa? 
Where is the magic pitcher? ” 

Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies set up a shout, 
“ You have been asleep! You fell asleep playing 
in the snow! ” 

Molly and Polly could not believe they had been 
dreaming. They said, “ We went riding in a 
sleigh! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma put dry clothes on 
them and said, “ Sit and toast yourselves by the 
fire, while I get you some gingersnaps! ” 

When Molly and Polly were warm again, they 
told their wonderful dream. 

When they had finished talking the Ink-Bottle 


60 


THE FAIRY BABIES 



Mamma said, “ Can’t you 
really tell the time, my 
dears? ” 


“ It is nine o’clock ” 


The Ink-Bottle Babies all 
shook their heads. Then the 
Ink-Bottle Mamma gave them 
twenty-five little circles of 


pasteboard, and she gave them some little pieces 
for hands of each clock. 

They fastened the hands on the clocks with 
twenty-five little pins. 

Now she said, “ We will make numbers on the 
clockface.” 

So they wrote twelve at the top of the circle, 
and six at the bottom; they wrote three at the 
right and nine at the left; then they put the other 
numbers between. 

The Mamma said, “ Put the long hand at twelve, 
and the little hand at nine; now tell the time! ” 

Not one of the Ink-Bottle Babies could tell what 
time it was. Could you? 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, 

“ The little hand tells the hour, you know, 

As round and round the two hands go; 

The big hand never makes a sound; 

It tells the minutes as it goes around! ” 




THE FAIRY BABIES 


61 


Then the Ink-Bottle Babies clapped their hands 
and said, “ It is nine o’clock! ” 

Then they looked up at the big clock on the 
mantle-piece, and just then they cried, “ The big 
clock is nine o’clock, too.” 

At this very minute the big clock began to strike. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies held their breath and 
counted the strokes of the clock. 

They counted the strokes on their fingers! 

Sure enough, the big clock struck nine. 

“ Hurrah! ” cried the Babies. “ We are learn¬ 
ing to tell the time.” 

Just then there was heard a gentle tap at the 
door. The door opened and in walked an Ink- 
Bottle Baby. She wore a red dress and a red sun- 
bonnet. 

She said, 

“ How do you do? I am tired, too; 

May I come in and sit with you? ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies all shouted, “ Can you 
tell the time?” 

The new Ink-Bottle Baby shook her head and 
said, “ I have been walking over maps all day. 
The children want a red line here, and a red dot 
there, and I am very tired.” 


62 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


“ Did you meet the little dwarfs in the woods'? ” 
asked Molly and Polly together. 

“ Who are the little dwarfs'? ” asked the new 
Ink-Bottle Baby, and Molly and Polly said, 


u We have a picture of two little dwarfs; 

If you will only look, 

The magic pitcher, too, is seen 
Within our picture-book.” 


At the words “ magic pitcher,” the new Ink- 
Bottle Baby sprang from her chair, and ran out 
of the house as fast as her legs could carry her. 

“ Well, what do you think of that*? ” asked the 
Ink-Bottle Mamma. * 

The Ink-Bottle Babies clapped their hands and 
danced up and down. 

They shouted, “ There really must be a magic 
pitcher! There truly must be a magic pitcher! ” 

Then they looked out of the window and saw 
the snow-men they had made. The snow-men 
looked very real in the moonlight. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “ Listen! the snow¬ 
men are singing.” 

They kept very still and they heard this song: 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


63 


“ Last night I saw a funny sight, 

Upon the ground all glistening white; 
Queer people standing in a row, 

Who told me they were made of snow! 

“ They waved their arms so queer and long, 
And kept time to a winter song; 

And when I said I’d go away, 

Their frosty voices bade me stay. 

“ I looked up at them in surprise, 

And each man rolled his wooden eyes; 
Then said if I’d excuse the joke, 

They’d light a match and take a smoke! 

“ Now if you’d like to hear them talk, 
Come out with me and take a walk; 

You’ll find them standing in a row, 

These funny people made of snow! ” 


CHAPTER VI 


THE MAGIC SPOON 


In February as you know, 

Stormy winds will often blow, 

And sometimes on a Saturday, 

In the house the children stay, 

Playing pleasant games, you see, * 

They are happy as can be. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies said, “ Heart of mine, 
Come now, and make a valentine! 99 



One Saturday morning it began to storm and 
it snowed and the wind blew harder and harder. 
The Ink-Bottle Babies said, “ Oh Ma! what 
shall we do? ” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, 
What month is this? 99 

Molly and Polly said, 
“ It is February .’ 9 

Then the twenty-three 
other Ink-Bottle Babies 
set up a shout. They cried, 
Polly set up a cry 99 66 Valentines! Valentines! 99 


64 



THE FAIRY BABIES 


65 


The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “ You have 
guessed right; we are going to make valentines.” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies got some tables 
and scissors and paste. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma brought paper and some 
pictures, and she said, “ You may cut out some 
hearts.” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies went to work. They 
got paste on the table and on their hands and 
faces. 

Then suddenly Polly set up a cry, and soon all 
the Ink-Bottle Babies shouted, “ Oh Ma! Polly 
has cut her finger! Oh Ma! Come quickly! ” 

Sure enough, Polly had cut her finger. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma came and tied it up 
and said, “ Every one of you wash your hands. 
I can’t have all my Babies cut their fingers! ” 

So the Ink-Bottle Babies got out twenty-five 
little basins and filled them with water, and they 
washed their hands. 

Then they said, “Read us a fine fairy tale, Ma, 
please do.” 

So Mamma got out the fairy tale book and 
read this story of The Magic Spoon: 

Once upon a time there was a merry little dwarf. 
He sang all day, 


66 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


“ Who is so merry, heigho! heigho! 

As a dwarf who lives in the woods, heigho! 

He may dance away by the light of the moon, 
But happy is he with his magic spoon! ” 

Then the little dwarf sat down by the table. 
He had a great yellow bowl, and a silver spoon 
in front of him. 

He stirred some flour around in the bowl, and 
what do you suppose he took out of the bowl? 
He took out a beautiful gold necklace! 

Then he stirred again, and he took out a blue 
necklace; then he stirred again, and he took out 
a red one. 

All the time as he worked he sang over and 
over, 

“ Who is so merry, heigho! heigho! 

As a dwarf who lives in the woods, heigho? 

He may dance away by the light of the moon, 
But happy is he with his magic spoon! ” 

At last the spoon got tired working and it said, 

“ Little dwarf, upon my word, 

What would you do if that song were heard? ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


67 


The little dwarf was so surprised to hear the 
spoon speak that he stopped stirring the flour 
in the bowl, and just at that very minute there 
was heard a rap at the door. 

The little dwarf hid the spoon and went to the 
door. There stood a very ugly old dwarf. His 
name was Cross-Patch. All the dwarfs in the 
wood were afraid of him. 

He stamped his foot now and said, 

“ I have come to get the magic spoon; 

Better give it to me soon; 

Be it morning, night, or noon, 

Will you give up the magic spoon? ” 

Then the first little dwarf shook his head and 
cried, 


“ I do not give my spoon away; 

You’d better call another day! ” 

Cross-Patch said, 

“ I will call to-morrow noon; 

Then perhaps I’ll get the spoon! ” 

He went oft muttering to himself, and shaking 
his cross old head as he went away. 


68 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Now the little dwarf was not at all afraid. 
He said, “ I will hide my spoon in a safe place.’’ 

Then he put on the red necklace and the blue 
necklace and the gold necklace, and he said, 
“ When I meet the Fairy Queen I will give her 
a new necklace every day.” 

Just then the little dwarf heard a great flapping 
of wings. He looked out and he saw one hundred 
crows. 

Old Cross-Patch had sent the crows to eat up 
the little dwarf’s corn! 

The crows ate all night, and till noon the next 
day. 

Then they flapped their wings and went away, 
and old Cross-Patch came and said, 

“ I have come to-day at noon, 

Will you give up the magic spoon? ” 

The little dwarf was angry, you may be sure. 
He shook his head and cried, 

“ I will not give my spoon away; 

You need not call another day.” 

Then old Cross-Patch shook his fist at the little 
dwarf and ran down the road. “ I have spoiled 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


69 


your corn,” he called back, but this time the 
little dwarf did not answer him. 

The next night there was a great noise, and 
five and twenty little dwarfs came and blew so 
much soot down the chimney that everything in 
the little dwarf’s house was ruined. 

I should say everything except one was ruined. 
The box in which the little dwarf kept the spoon 
and necklaces was safe because it was under his 
pillow. 

The next morning old Cross-Patch came as 
before and said, 

“ Here I am at break of day; 

Will you give your spoon away? ” 

The little dwarf was very angry and he shouted, 

“ I will not give my spoon away; 

You may not have it now, I say.” 

Old Cross-Patch went away scolding and grum¬ 
bling as before. Late that night there was a great 
noise, and the bricks from the chimney began to 
fall. The little dwarf had just time to grab his 
box and run out at the door. 

All the bricks from the house fell one upon 


70 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


another, and soon the little house was all gone; 
only a pile of bricks remained! 

Old Cross-Patch came again and said, 

“If you won’t give the spoon away, 

I’ll turn your pretty hair all gray! ” 

The little dwarf had lovely golden curls. Now 
the spoon was so angry at Cross-Patch that he 
could stand it no longer. 

He turned very red in the face and began to 
kick and roll over. 

He sprang out of the box, and jumped right 
at old Cross-Patch and cried, 

“Be it morning, night, or noon, 

Come and take the magic spoon! ” 

Then the spoon boxed Cross-Patch on the right 
ear and on the left ear. 

“Oh! oh! oh! please stop! ” called Cross-Patch. 

The little dwarf was so tickled he stood by and 
clapped his hands. 

Then the spoon turned to old Cross-Patch and 
said, 

“ You shall build the house again; 

You’ll work in sunshine and in rain.” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


71 



Then old Cross-Patch saw there was no way 
out of it, so he had to go and pile one brick on 
another, and if he did not work fast enough the 
spoon would slap him on the back. 

The five and twenty dwarfs who had sent soot 
down the chimney came, and they were sorry for 
Cross-Patch, and went to work to help him 
rebuild the house. 

The spoon danced about and rapped them all 
sharply every once in a while. 

When the house was all done the spoon cried, 


“ Now, old Cross-Patch, step inside; 
Clean the rug and fireside.” 


72 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


The spoon made Cross-Patch clean everything 
in the house. Then the spoon cried, 

“ Cross-Patch, take your little men, 

Plant the corn in rows again! ” 

Then Cross-Patch and the little dwarfs worked 
all night. They planted corn in the little garden. 
The spoon got so angry it beat them all until they 
were black and blue; then finally it chased old 
Cross-Patch away, and away, and away, out into 
the Land of Nowhere. 

The five and twenty little men saw that the 
corn they had planted was already * beginning to 
grow, so they laid down and went to sleep. 

Pretty soon the spoon came back. 

There high in the tree sat the little dwarf; be¬ 
side him sat the Fairy Queen. 

The Queen said, 

“ I try the necklaces, one, two, three, 

But none is good enough for me.” 

Then the little dwarf helped the Fairy Queen 
down from the tree and they went into the house. 

The spoon went in, too, and it began to stir 
at a terrible rate, all by itself in a great big bowl, 



“ 1 try the necklaces, one, two, three ” 



















74 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


and pretty soon there came out of the bowl the 
finest gold necklace in the land. 

The Fairy Queen clapped her hands and cried 
to the dwarf and the spoon, “ You will always 
be welcome in my palace.” 

Then the dwarf clasped the necklace around 
her neck, and she was gone. 

The spoon stood up very straight and sang, 

“ Whatever song you wish to sing, 
Remember, ’tis the safest thing, 

To put the spoon upon the shelf, 

And keep the secret to yourself! ” 

Then the spoon jumped up into the box on 
the shelf. The five and twenty little dwarfs woke 
up and tapped politely at the door, and asked for 
breakfast, but the spoon called out from its hid¬ 
ing place, 


“ If you do not go away, 

I’ll box your ears again to-day! ” 

Then the five and twenty little dwarfs ran away 
as fast as their legs could carry them. 

The little dwarf forgot what the spoon had said 
and he went about his work singing, 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


75 


“ Who is so merry, heigho! heigho! 

As a dwarf who lives in the woods, heigho? 

He may dance away by the light of the moon, 
But happy is he with his magic spoon.” 

Now the magic spoon was so upset to think the 
little dwarf could not keep still that he sprang 
down from the shelf and cried, 

“ You will not heed whate’ere I say, 

So, little dwarf, you ’ll go away! ” 

Then he beat the little dwarf all the way to the 
palace of the Fairy Queen, where he became a 
servant and he never dared to return to his home. 

The magic spoon went back to his place on the 
shelf. 

For all I know he may be there yet! 

“ Didn’t any one ever see the magic spoon 
after that? ” asked Polly. 

“Is it a really, truly, true story? ” asked 
Molly. 

Then the other Babies laughed so hard that they 
rolled over and over on the floor, and at last they 
said, “ Some day we will go in search of the magic 
spoon and the magic pitcher. May we go, Ma? ” 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma laughed and said, “ It 
is time for you funny little Babies to go to bed.” 


76 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


The Ink-Bottle Mamma read so slowly it had 
taken her all day to read the story. 

The Babies went off happily to bed singing, 

“ Oh, the magic pitcher and magic spoon,' 

We will try to find them soon; 

By and by to the woods well go, 

And meet the dwarf with his merry heigho! ” 

Just then some one tapped on the door. It 
was the Ink-Bottle Papa. He had been away for 
his health for a year and a day! 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma was glad to see him 
again, you may be sure. 

She said, “ Hush, my dear, we may wake the 
Babies.’ ’ But she was not quick enough, for all 
the Babies woke up and began to come downstairs 
by twos and threes to see who had come to their 
house. 

They hugged their dear Papa until he cried 
out, “ Look in my pockets and see a surprise! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies looked in his pock¬ 
ets and drew out twenty-five little silver spoons. 

They all looked exactly alike, and the Babies 
cried, “ Thank you, Papa, we will call them our 
magic spoons.” 

Then the Babies went to bed again. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE MAGIC KITES 

The merry March wind is singing a song, 

“ Blow, blow, blow! 

Sweet springtime is coming, coming along, 

Blow, blow, blow! ” 

Said the Ink-Bottle Babies, “ Don’t blow us away;” 
They said, “It is fun in the wind to play; 

We’ll fly our kites on this merry March day. 
Blow, blow, blow! ” 

One day in the merry month of March, the Ink- 
Bottle Papa said, “ I have a half-holiday. What 
shall we do? ” 

Then the twenty-five little Ink-Bottle Babies 
clapped their hands and cried, “ Hurrah! hurrah! 
hurrah! ” 

“ Shall we do the family washing? ” asked the 
Ink-Bottle Papa with a twinkle in his eye. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies said, 

“We are so little, it is true, 

The washing is very hard to do! ” 

77 


78 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


The Ink-Bottle Papa laughed and he said, 
“ Then shall we sweep the house all over, from 
top to bottom? 99 

Then the Babies said, 

“ The brooms are heavy for us to hold, 

And after all we are not very old! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Papa clapped his hands 
and said, “ Shall we mow our lawn, front and 
back? ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies cried, 

“ We are very little to mow to-day; 

Let us help keep your holiday! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Papa stopped fooling, and 
he said, “ There is a fine wind for flying kites; 
w r e will all make kites to-day; then we will go out 
and fly them.” 

“ Hurrah! Hurrah! 99 cried the Babies. “ We 
will all make kites. We will make big kites, 
little kites, and middle-sized kites! ” 

Now, did the Ink-Bottle Babies make kites? 
Well, I guess they did! 

They cut and they pasted, and they rapped and 
tapped away, and then they said, 



“ Oh, oh, oh, my kite pulls so hard! ” 












80 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


“ Our kites are finished. May we go and fly 
them, Pa? ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Papa said, 

“ One, two, three, away we go; 

March like soldiers in a row! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies got into two rows 
and they followed the Ink-Bottle Papa over to the 
meadow. 

Then they began to run and fly their kites. 

“ Oh, oh, oh,” cried Polly, “ my kite pulls so 
hard! ” 

“ Oh, oh, oh,” cried Molly, “ I am afraid my 
kite will get away.” 

The Ink-Bottle Papa said, “ It is the merry 
March wind pulling at the kites! ” 

Then they laughed and danced and played in 
the sunshine, and by and by Papa said, “ Come, 
sit down and rest and I will tell you a story.” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies all sat down. They still 
held on to the strings of their kites. 

The Ink-Bottle Papa began his story of The 
Magic Kite: 

Once upon a time a little boy made a kite. He 
made the kite of paper and string. 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


81 


Then the little boy was very happy, and he said, 

“Blow, merry wind, blow; my kite and I 
Along with the breezes will fly, and fly.” 

Just then a voice said, 

“ Perhaps you can fly, 

If you only try! ” 

The little boy looked around, and there sat the 
funniest little dwarf. The dwarf sat cross-legged 
on an old tree-stump. 

“ Ever think much about flying? ” he said, and 
he screwed his face up into a thousand wrinkles. 
The little boy shook his head. 

Then the dwarf said, 

“ Flying might be easy for you, 

The butterflies try it, 

The birds try it, too; 

Yes, it might be easy for you! ” 

The little boy said, “ I would like to fly; tell 
me truly how to do it.” 

The little dwarf said, “ Just lend me your kite.” 
Then the dwarf took the little boy’s kite and 


82 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


he blew on it until it became bigger and stronger 
and it was indeed very hard to hold. 

The little dwarf then took hold of the string 
and the kite pulled harder and harder and harder, 
and soon it lifted the little dwarf off of his 
feet. He did not let go of the string. 

The little dwarf went up, up, up among the 
clouds. Soon the little boy could see only a speck 
among the clouds. He was beginning to be sorry 
he had loaned the dwarf his kite, for he was 
afraid he would never see it again. 

Then he heard a whistle and a voice called out, 

“ Sailing high up over the town, 

Here I come again, down, down, down.” 

Sure enough, down came the little dw T arf. hold¬ 
ing to the kite. 

“ Want to fly now? ” he asked. “ It is lots of 
fun.” 

The little boy lost no time, you may be sure, 
in.taking hold of the kite string. He took hold 
of the string and the kite began to pull. 

“ Hold on tight! ” shouted the little dwarf. 
“ Hold on tight! ” 

Then the little boy went up, up, up, over the 
tree-tops, and over the houses until he came to 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


83 



“ The little boy went up, up, up, until he came to the stars ” 

the stars! My, but he was away up high in the sky! 

The stars were so bright he winked and blinked 
his eyes, and suddenly he forgot to keep hold 
of the string, and down, down, down he fell to 
earth again, and his kite flew away and he never 
saw it again! 

“ Did the fall hurt him? ” asked Molly. 

“ Did he truly lose his kite forever? ” asked 
Polly. 

The Ink-Bottle Papa said, “ The boy w r as not 
hurt at all, for he fell on his mother’s feather bed 
that she had out on the porch airing! ” 

“ Oh my! ” cried all the Babies at once. “ What 


84 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


fun it would be to fall on a feather bed! We 
wish we could fly and fall in soft places, too! ” 

Just then Molly gave a little cry, and Polly gave 
a little cry. 

What do you suppose was happening? 

They felt their kites pulling so hard that they 
began to go up, up, up. Before the Ink-Bottle 
Papa could stop them they had sailed out of sight! 

The Ink-Bottle Babies said to the Papa, u We 
will go home and ask Mamma what to do. She 
always tells us what to do! ” 

Molly and Polly went up, and up, and up, and 
then just as suddenly they began to go down, and 
down, and down. 

They said, “ We wonder if we will come down 
on a feather bed? ” 

Bid they come down on a feather bed? Oh no, 
they came down to a hole in the ground, and they 
went down in the hole, down, down, and they still 
held their kite strings, and they cried, “ What a 
jolly ride, up and down, up and down.” 

Pretty soon they came to a stop and landed 
right in a strawberry-bed. 

They were so pleased to see the strawberries, 
that they forgot about their kites for the first 
time and let go of the strings. They began to 
pick berries and eat them as fast as they could. 



“Led them into a room full of toys ” 






























86 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


While they were eating away a little old woman 
came in and cried, 

“ Fi-go-fee, what do I see, 

Children as sure as sure can be! ” 

Then Molly and Polly stopped eating and made 
a bow and said, 

“ We hope it does not annoy you to have us 
eat strawberries. You have so many of them, and 
we rode here all the way with our kites! ” 

Then the little old woman looked out of the 
window and saw the kites floating away. 

She clapped her hands and cried, 

“ Come with me, come with me, 

Many curious sights you’ll see! ” 

Then she took Molly and Polly by the hand and 
led them into a room full of toys. 

The little old woman cried, 

“ See the toys, the many toys, 

Lost by careless girls and boys! ” 

Molly said, “ May I get on the rocking-horse? ” 
And Polly said, “ May I ride in that funny little 
carriage? ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


87 


The little old woman said in an old squeaky voice, 

“ No time to play, no time to play; 

Call again another day! ” 

Then she showed them a room full of caps and 
coats and all kinds of clothing, and she said with 
a wave of her hand, “ Careless children lost them 
all! Come now, help me count and sort out the 
clothes.’ ’ 

Then Molly and Polly went to work to sort 
the caps. There were red caps, and blue caps, and 
yellow caps, and all kinds of caps. Then they 
went to work and sorted the neckties, and they 
worked all day, and still there were more caps 
and more neckties than you ever dreamed of. 

The room they were in led into a hall and the 
hall, too, was full of lost things. 

Suddenly Molly and Polly wanted to go home. 
They stopped work and said, “ We want to go 
home right away! ” 

The little old woman clapped her hands and said, 

“ You are lost, you belong to me, 

Ha! ha! ha! he! he! he! ” 

Then the little old woman went down the .hall 


88 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


and locked the door and left Molly and Polly 
alone. 

“ How shall we ever get home? ” they said. 

Then they heard a voice say, 

“ Through the tree-trunk, come with me; 

Only find the magic key! 99 

They looked around,, and sure enough, right in 
the middle of the room was a tree-trunk! Its 
roots came down to the floor. In the lower part 
of the tree-trunk there was a door and the door 
was locked. 

“ Where shall we look for the magic key? 99 
asked Molly and Polly. And the tree fairy said, 

“The magic key will open the door; 

It never has been found before.” 

Then Molly and Polly looked all over the room, 
you may be sure. 

They looked under the piles of clothing and 
they looked under the furniture. Just then a 
canary began to sing, 

“ Give me, please, some food and drink; 

I can help you then to think! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


89 


Now Molly saw a little pitcher of water on the 
window sill, and Polly saw a little package of 
birdseed on a chair; so they gave the canary some 
food and drink. 

As they peeped into the bird-cage, they saw on 
the floor of the cage a tiny key! The key was 
tied with blue ribbon. “ Oh, the key! the key! ” 
they cried, but the Tree Fairy said, 

“ Softly, softly, for you see, 

You must gently turn the key! ” 

Then Molly and Polly went to the tree-trunk on 
tiptoe, and they put the key in the lock. Click! 
went the lock, and the door opened. 

There stood the Tree Fairy all dressed in red 
and yellow! 

The Tree Fairy was so little he could sit in 
Polly’s hand. 

The Fairy called, 

“ There is room, the tree is wide, 

Quickly, quickly jump inside.” 

And it was well that Molly and Polly lost no 
time, for just as they had gotten inside the tree 
the little old woman came back. 


90 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Up, up, up the tree they went. The Fairy 
held the key. 

“ I will let you out by and by, if you grant me 
a wish/’ said the Fairy. 

“ What is your wish'? ” asked Molly and Polly, 
and the Fairy said, “ Two white sheets, nice and 
neat. Then I’ll use the key and set you free! ” 

Molly and Polly laughed and each one of them 
took out a neatly folded pocket-handkerchief, and 
they presented them to the Fairy! 

The handkerchiefs were just the right size for 
fairy sheets and the Fairy was delighted. 

He put the key in the lock; click, click, the door 
opened, and out stepped the Ink-Bottle Babies in 
their own park at home. 

They were in such a hurry to get home they 
forgot to say, “ Thank you,” and they did not 
even stop to see which tree they had stepped out 
of. They have been looking for the tree ever 
since. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies were so pleased to see 
Molly and Polly, that they hugged them nearly to 
death. 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma and Papa said, “ No 
more magic kites for our family.” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma gave them each a 
cup of hot chocolate and put them to bed. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE MAGIC ROCKING-CHAIR 

Hear the rain, April rain! 

Palling on the windowpane; 

Pitter, patter, all day long; 

Can you hear the raindrops’ song? 

“ We call the flowers to bloom again, 

They are refreshed by April rain.” 

Said the Ink-Bottle Babies, “ Without any doubt, 
It is time to get our umbrellas out! ” - 

When the Ink-Bottle Babies woke up next 
morning they cried, “ Oh Ma! Oh Pa! It is 
raining! ” 

Sure enough, the rain came splash, not a gentle 
patter, but splash! splash! splash! 

“ Oh! oh! oh! ” cried all the Ink-Bottle Babies. 
“ How can we get to school in the rain? 99 

The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “ I will get your 
umbrellas.” 

The Ink-Bottle Papa said, “ I will get your 
rubbers.” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies said, “ Hurrah for 
rubbers and umbrellas! Hurrah for a rainy day! ” 


91 


92 


THE FAIRY BABIES 



“The little dwarf called ‘ Halt! ’ ” 


How funny they looked going along the street 
with their twenty-five little umbrellas bobbing up 
and down. 

As they went along they heard a voice cry, 

“ In and out, without a doubt, 

I will keep dry if I but try! ” 

The Babies looked down and there stood a little 
dwarf. He had a long white beard that came to 
the ground. He bobbed in and out among the 







THE FAIRY BABIES 


93 


Babies and skipped first under this umbrella, and 
then under that umbrella, and it kept the Babies 
quite busy looking for him. 

“ Are you going to school with us? ” asked 
Molly. 

“ Do you know where the magic pitcher is? ” 
asked Polly. 

Then the most surprising thing happened! 

The little dwarf called “ Halt! ” and every one 
of the Ink-Bottle Babies stood still in the pouring 
rain. 

Then the little dwarf said, 

“ The magic pitcher has melted away; 

Don’t tell the secret, I beg you, pray! ” 

Then Molly said, “ How could it melt away? ” 

Then the little dwarf said, 

“ The magic pitcher is safe and sound, 

Perhaps you will find it underground.” 

Then Polly said, “ I believe you do not know 
anything about the magic pitcher; you are only 
guessing! ” 

“ Isn’t guessing allowed? ” asked the dwarf. 
Then he shouted, “ Forward! march! ” and they 


94 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


all went on to school. When they came to school 
the dwarf said, 

“I hardly dare to go inside, 

Unless I find a place to hide! ” 

Then the Ink Bottle Babies suggested various 
places for the little dwarf to hide in, but none of 
the places pleased him, so he said, 

“ If you stay till afternoon, 

I will come back very soon! ” 

Then in a twinkling of an eye he was gone. 

The teacher was so surprised to see all the Ink- 
Bottle Babies on such a rainy day that she let 
them sit wherever they pleased. They went to the 
blackboard and did neat little sums, and they all 
got their answers right. 

At noon the teacher went home for dinner, and 
the Babies took out their twenty-five little dinner 
pails, and began to eat their lunch. 

The rain came down harder and harder, and 
the Babies said, “ We wonder if the little dwarf 
got drowned ¥ ” 

Soon there was heard a rap-a-tap at the window, 
and a voice called, 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


95 


“ The rain is rather wet to-day; 

Will you open your window a little way? ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies ran and opened the 
window and let the little dwarf in. 

Such a sputtering and fussing you never heard! 
He shook the rain from his coat and said, 

“ With no umbrella, how do you suppose, 

I could keep dry in my little clothes? ” 

Then he danced, and he hopped, and he skipped 
about until he was quite dry. 

He tasted something out of every one of the 
twenty-five dinner pails. 

Then he climbed up on the window sill and said, 
“ What shall we play, ‘I-Spv’? ” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies said, “ There really is no 
place to hide. Please tell us a story instead! ” 

“ Tell about the magic pitcher, or the magic 
spoon/’ cried Molly and Polly! 

Then the little dwarf said, 

“ If you really, truly do not care, 

I prefer The Magic Rocking-Chair! ” 

“ Tell us about it! Tell us about it! ” cried the 
Babies. 


96 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


The little dwarf waited until the Babies were 
still; then he began the tale of The Magic Rocking- 
Chair! Here is the story he told: 

Once upon a time there was a little boy who 
lived with his grandparents ill the woods. 

The grandparents were so old and feeble that 
the little boy had all the wood to cut and the 
water to bring in. He was kept busy working 
from morning till night. 

One evening, as his grandparents fell asleep by 
the fire, the little boy said, “ I wish I had some 
one to play with me. I do wish I could have some 
fun once in a while! ” 

A little dwarf stuck his head in at the door and 
said, softly, 

“ Little boy, if you do not care, 

I’ll give you a magic rocking-chair! ” 

There stood the little dwarf in the doorway. He 
carried a beautiful red rocking-chair. The chair 
was so heavy and large for the dwarf it was all 
he could possibly carry. 

He set it down in the doorway and said in a 
whisper, 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


97 



“Wherever you think you’d like to go, 
Just sit in the chair and rock to and fro.” 


Then in the twinkling of an eye the little dwarf 
was gone. The little boy lost no time trying the 
chair, you may be sure. 

He said, “ I think I would like to go to China.” 




















98 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


And he began to rock to and fro. He rocked so 
hard that he rocked right out of the house. Then 
the chair sailed away up over the tree-tops, and 
he kept rocking all the way until they arrived 
in China. 

The chair stopped outside of a fine house, and 
said, “ I will wait for you.” 

Then the little boy went into the house and 
the Chinamen were very polite to him. They 
taught him to eat with chopsticks, and they gave 
him a pound of tea to take home with him. They 
tied the tea up in a fine silk handkerchief. 

A great clock struck twelve and the little boy 
remembered that the chair did not want to w^ait 
later than twelve, so he bade his new friends good¬ 
bye and went outside. 

He stepped into the chair and said, “ Home 
again, home again,” and they rode along home¬ 
ward. 

The chair said, “ I know one little verse the 
dwarf keeps wdiispering to himself when he uses 
this magic chair. It is this, 

“ 6 When ’tis midnight heed the hour, 

Or the chair may lose its magic power.’ ” 

“ Thank you, I will remember that,” said the 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


99 


little boy, and whizzing along they went on home. 

There sat the old people just as he had left them, 
nid-nid-nodding by the fire. 

“ Good-bye,” said the chair, “ I will hide out¬ 
side.” 

The little boy took his tea and his silk hand¬ 
kerchief with him to his own room and he soon 
fell asleep. 

His work seemed easy to him next day. He 
said, “ I wonder where I shall go to-night. I be¬ 
lieve I will go to Holland if the chair comes 
around.” 

Next evening the old people fell asleep as be¬ 
fore and there was a gentle tap at the door. The 
little dwarf had brought the chair again, but he 
wanted a present this time. 

He begged so hard for a present that at last 
the little boy gave him the red silk handkerchief. 
The little dwarf tied the handkerchief about him 
as a sash and went off singing in the moonlight. 

The little boy said, “ I will go to Holland.” 

He rocked away across the sea and he had a 
fine time, you may be sure. 

The people in Holland gave him a cheese and a 
pair of wooden shoes to take home. 

At exactly twelve o’clock he stepped into the 
chair and rocked home. 


100 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Night after night the little boy rode away in 
the rocking-chair, and all went well until the night 
he went to the circus. 

The clown said so many funny things he forgot 
about the time. It struck twelve o’clock, and one 
o’clock, and then the circus was over. 

The little boy stepped out of the tent and his 
chair was nowhere to be seen, so he had to walk 
all the way home. 

The next evening the little dwarf came without 
the chair. He looked very sad and he said, 


“ Of course, little boy, you meant no 
harm, 

But you have broken the magic 
charm.” 

Then the dwarf explained that 
the chair would rock no longer be¬ 
cause the little boy over¬ 
stayed his time. He said 
with tears in his eyes 
that the chair now would 
not rock across the room. 
Then the boy said, 

'The clown said so many ^ our e y es > I will 

funny things ” tell you what to do.” 




THE FAIRY BABIES 


101 


He took the little dwarf by the hand and they 
ran to the house of the Grossest giant in the land. 
They persuaded the giant to come and look at the 
rocking-chair and mend it, for he was very clever 
about such things. 

The giant made the chair as good as new; then 
he turned to the little boy and said fiercely, 
“ I have not had a good meal to-day. I will just 
eat you up! ” 

Then the chair grew very angry. It grew so 
large suddenly that the giant could sit in it, and 
it said, 

“ Come have a ride, and rock to and fro; 

I am sure I know where you want to go! ” 

The giant forgot how hungry he was and he 
sat down in the chair. The chair rocked him 
down to the river and threw him in. 

He was not drowned, of course, but he was 
awfully scared, and the chair rocked back to the 
little dwarf. 

The little boy had many rides in the chair after 
that, but he took the little dwarf with him, so that 
they would be sure to remember the time, and not 
stay out after midnight. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “ Is that the end? 


102 


THE FAIRY BABIES. 


Surely that is not the end. There must be more.’’ 

The little dwarf did not want to answer, so he 
said, “It is raining so hard the teacher may not 
come back to school.** 

“ Please tell the end of the story,** begged the 
Babies. 

Then the little dwarf cried, “What! ho! Here 
comes the farmer to take you home! ** 

Sure enough, there was the farmer in his big 
wagon. He had come to take the Ink-Bottle 
Babies home. 

“Was that the end of the story? ** called Molly 
and Polly. 

The little dwarf smiled and said, 

“ If you should ever want a ride, 

Come to my house and step inside! ** 

“ Oh! oh! oh! ** cried the Ink-Bottle Babies clap¬ 
ping their hands. “ Do you own the magic rock¬ 
ing-chair? Will you please take us to ride? ** 

The little dwarf ran out in the rain, laughing as 
he went. 

How were the Ink-Bottle Babies to guess 
whether he owned the rocking-chair or not? 


CHAPTER IX 


MAY-DAY 

In glad springtime the birds all sing, 

And sweet the woodland echoes ring; 

Why should we not be happy too, 

When skies are blue? when skies are blue? 

I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies say, 

“ We’ll hang May baskets up to-day! ” 

“ Oh! oh! oh! ” cried the Ink-Bottle Babies. “ It 
is May-Day! hurrah! hurrah! ” 

Then they all got up and dressed in a hurry and 
said, “ Oh Ma! may we go to the woods? Oh Pa! 
may we all go to the goods together? 99 

Then Mamma and Papa said they might all go 
to the woods if they would be very careful not 
to get lost. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies each took a cute little 
basket, and they all went to look for flowers and 
berries in the woods. 

“I wonder if we will meet Red Riding-hood,” 
said Molly. 

“ I wonder if we will meet the wolf,” cried 

Polly. 


104 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


At that very minute the Ink-Bottle Babies stood 
still for they heard a voice cry, 


“ Out of my house and off my land! 

How you came here I don’t understand! ” 

There stood a fierce little dwarf stamping his 
foot at them. 

All the Ink-Bottle Babies bowed politely and 
said, “ If you please, Sir, may we gather a few 
violets and buttercups? ” 

Then the little dwarf said, 


“ I love all the little flowers that grow, 
You shall not gather them, no! no! ” 


Then Molly and Polly 
said, “If we each give 
you a cookie, would you 
let us gather a few 
flowers? ” 

Then the little dwarf 
came and peeked into 
each one of the baskets 
and saw, sure enough, 
that each Baby had a 
cookie in the basket. 





THE FAIRY BABIES 


105 


Then the little dwarf clapped his hands and 
cried, 


“ Cookies big and cookies round, 

Put them all upon the ground! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all put their cookies 
on a large, flat stone, and the little dwarf filled 
his pockets and his cap full of them. 

Then he made a bow and said, 

“ Pick all the flowers you like to-day, 

But after sundown do not stay! ” 

Then whisk, bound, the little dwarf was gone! 

The Ink-Bottle Babies lost no time in picking 
flowers, you may be sure. 

They found violets, daisies, and buttercups, and 
before they could believe it, it was sundown. 

They said, “We do not care what the little 
dwarf said, we will not hurry home.” 

Then they sat down and ate the sandwiches and 
apples they had brought with them. 

Just as the sun was setting Molly cried, “ Oh, 
oh, oh,” and Polly cried, “ Oh, oh, oh,” and all 
the Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “ Oh, oh, oh.” What 
do you suppose was the matter? They all began 


106 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


to sink down, down, down, and it became quite 
dark! 

They sank down until they came to the top of 
the magic tower, which was built under the sea! 

They saw the fishes swim past them and they 
cried, “ Oh, oh, oh, where are we going? ” 

The roof of the magic tower opened and down 
the Ink-Bottle Babies went to the very bottom 
of the tower. They were just beginning to get 
their breath when the most beautiful princess in 
the world came and stood before them. 

She said, 

“ Where did you come from, Babies dear, 

And how did you happen to come here? ” 

She saw only Molly at first; then Polly and all 
the rest of the Babies came tumbling down the 
staircase. 

The princess gathered up an armful of Babies 
and cried, 

“ I am so happy, the charm is broken; 

I welcome the Babies now as a token.” 

The Babies patted the princess’ dress; it was 
soft and silky. Then they all begged to braid her 



“ They had to work days and days to 1 braid her hair ” 




108 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


hair. They had to work days and days to braid 
all her hair, it was so long and heavy. 

“ Tell us a story, please,’’ said the Babies. 

And the princess began, “ Once upon a time I 
went into the woods to gather flowers! ” 

“ Just like we did,” shouted all the Ink-Bottle 
Babies together. 

“ I was going along humming a little tune, when 
I saw a fierce little dwarf,” continued the princess. 

“ Oh, oh, oh,” cried the Babies, “ we met him, 
too! We met him, too! ” 

“ The dwarf talked in rhyme,” said the princess. 
Then all the Babies nodded their heads. 

The princess said, “ The dwarf would not let 
me have any flowers unless I gave him a cookie, 
and when I did, give him a cookie, he said, 

“ ‘ Pick all the flowers you like to-day, 

But after sundown do not stay! 9 99 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies set up a shout, for 
those were the very words the little dwarf had 
said to them. 

The princess said, “ I was so happy gathering 
flowers that I forgot what the little dwarf said, 
and after sundown I began to sink, down and 
down, until I came to this magic tower.” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


109 


The princess shook her head and said, “ All the 
doors and windows are fastened. Besides, we are 
under the sea.” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies looked out of the window, 
and sure enough, fishes were swimming past. 

Suddenly the princess said, “ Hush, the little 
dwarf is coming. Run Babies, and hide, every one 
of you! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies ran upstairs. 

Click, click, went the key in the door, and the 
door opened and the little dwarf came in stamping 
and scolding. 

He came into the room where the princess was, 
and said, 

“ Silver and gold have I none; 

How many skeins have you spun? ” 

The princess went to her spinning wheel, and 
showed the dwarf that she had spun two skeins 
of thread. 

The little dwarf stamped his foot and cried, 

“ If out of the tower you want to go, 

You will spin one hundred skeins you know! ” 

Then he looked very cunning indeed, and he 


110 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


opened the door to his storeroom. “ There are 
one thousand bundles of flax,” said he. “ You 
must spin all of this.” 

Then he said, 

“ How soon do you really want to go, 

In about a hundred years or so? ” 


The princess laughed gaily and said, 


“ At sundown if you care to call, 
Perhaps you’ll find I’ve spun it all! ” 


The little dwarf was so surprised at this an¬ 
swer that he looked cross-eyed, but he did not 
answer the princess. 

Next he drew from his pocket a pitcher and a 
spoon. Then he went and got a rocking-chair that 
he had brought with him, and he said, 

“ I’ll leave these treasures under the sea; 

Some day they’ll be of use to me.” 

Then whisk! bound! he was off and away and 
the princess began to sing softly, 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


111 


“ Round and round the big wheel goes, 
Spin, spin, spin; 

Merrily the spring wind blows, 

Spin, spin, spin.” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies came in dancing and sing¬ 
ing for they had heard every word that had been 
said. 

They cried, u We are so glad Ma taught us 
to spin.” 

The Ink-Bottle Babies looked in the garret and 
they found twenty-five little spinning wheels. 
They all sat down and began to spin as hard as 
they could. 

Suddenly Molly stopped spinning and Polly 
stopped spinning and then all the Babies stopped 
spinning, and they ran to the place where the chair 
and spoon and pitcher were. 

They cried out, “ Oh, the magic chair and spoon 
and pitcher! ” 

Then the magic chair said, “ All jump in and 
have a ride.” 

And the magic spoon said, “ I will show you 
how to spin.” 

Then the magic pitcher said, “ I will give you 
a drink of cider.” 

They all made merry, you may believe. 


112 


THE FAIRY BABIES 



“ Found the princess sitting alone by her spinning wheel ” 


In a short time the magic spoon had all the 
flax spun into thread; then they grew tired and 
sleepy and went to bed. The next day they had 
no work to do as the spinning was all done, so 
they looked all over the tower and peeped into 
every closet and corner. 

At last it was sundown and the little dwarf came 
as before and found the princess sitting alone by 
her spinning wheel. 

He winked his eye and said, 















THE FAIRY BABIES 


113 


“ Did you spin all the flax I gave you yesterday? 
Are you sure you’re quite ready to go away? ” 

Then the princess showed him all the thread, and 
the dwarf was so surprised that he hardly knew 
what to say. He began to gather up the thread to 
take away with him, and he said, 

“ You may laugh and shout, you can’t get out, 

You have had help beyond a doubt! ” 

Then the magic spoon came in and beat him, 
and the magic pitcher stood in front of him and 
poured water on him. Then the magic chair came 
up behind him and he fell right into it. The chair 
rocked him out of the window into the deep sea, 
and he never troubled the princess any more. 

Then the chair came back and said, “ Get in, 
every one of you, and I will give you a ride.” 

Then they all got in, the magic pitcher and spoon, 
too, and they rode away, away, away, to the palace 
where the princess lived. They let the princess out; 
and then they rode to the home of the Ink-Bottle 
Babies, and let all the Babies out. The magic chair 
then rocked away, taking the magic spoon and 
pitcher with it. 


CHAPTER X 


VACATION TIME 

June’s a name we like to hear; 

Glad vacation’s drawing near; 

Good-bye, good-bye, lesson books; 

Welcome fields and merry brooks; 

All our lessons now are over; 

See the fields of nodding clover. 

The Ink-Bottle Babies gladly cry, 

“ ’Tis vacation time, good-bye, good-bye! ” 

“ Hurrah! ” cried the Ink-Bottle Babies, “ hur¬ 
rah! hurrah! it is glad vacation time! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “ We will all 
go to the woods to-day.” 

So the Babies were busy packing their twenty- 
five little dinner pails and they packed a basket 
of lunch for Ma and Pa. 

They all started merrily toward the woods. 
Molly said, “ Do you suppose we will find the 
house where the little dwarfs live? ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all clapped their 
hands and shouted, “ Oh Ma! oh Pa! do help us 
find the little dwarfs! ” 


114 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


115 


Then Mamma took out a red and white table 
cloth and spread it on the grass, and all the Ink- 
Bottle Babies began to unpack their dinner pails, 
and soon they had a fine dinner ready. 

They filled their glasses with water from a 
spring, and just as they were going to sit down 
a little dwarf ran past them and called, 

“ When you take your meal at noon, 

You should use the magic spoon! ” 


Then the little dwarf 
took the magic spoon 
and dipped it into every 
glass of water, and 
^ the water turned 
at once into lemon- 
ff/ft Ja ade. 

They looked 



“ They filled their glasses with water front a spring ” 





116 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


around to thank the little dwarf, but he was gone! 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies cried, u We must 
find the house where the little dwarfs live! ” 

After a while the Ink-Bottle Mamma and Papa 
got tired and went home. They left the Babies in 
the woods for a while. 

The Babies were so sleepy they took quite a 
nap, and when they woke up they said, “ Let us 
look for the home of the little dwarfs.” They 
spoke in whispers; they were almost afraid to 
speak out loud. 

They picked up their dinner pails and walked 
a long way. Suddenly they saw a light twinkling 
in the distance. The light came from a little wee 
house in the w r oods. One of the Babies rapped at 
the door and a little dwarf came out and said, 

“ We have bedrooms five and twenty, 

And of food we have a plenty; 

Kindly step in, please, to-night, 

By this ray of candlelight! 

The Ink-Bottle Babies stepped inside, and they 
saw five and twenty little dwarfs sitting at a 
table, eating soup with their five and twenty little 
spoons. The little dwarfs got up politely and 
offered their seats to the Babies and they sang, 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


117 


“ Ink-Bottle Babies, ’tis very fine, 

With the magic pitcher at last to dine.” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies started to eat some 
soup, but one little dwarf ran around and poured 
something into each soup dish out of the magic 
pitcher. One plate of soup was changed to jelly 
and one plate was changed to ice cream and so 
it went all round the table! 

The Babies shouted, “ Hurrah! for the magic 
pitcher,” and they laughed until they cried! 

Then they all sat down in a circle and they 
told stories and one little dwarf cried, 

“I am so hungry to-night, ho! ho! 

Where did the magic spoon chance to go? ” 

The little dwarfs all shook their heads sadly. 
Then what do you suppose happened? The Ink- 
Bottle Babies all rose and began to dance and 
cry, 


“ We know who has the magic spoon, 

A little dwarf we met this noon! ” 

Then all the dwarfs put on their fuzzy coats 
and their fuzzy caps, and they said, 


118 


THE FAIRY BABIES 



“ Follow the leader, every one, 

Follow along till rise of sun! ” 

Then the dwarfs went out of the door, two and 
two, and the Ink-Bottle Babies did not know 
what else to do, so they followed them. 

They ran along up hill and down dale until 
they came to a valley. 

Then their leader called, “ Hark! Listen! Hark! 99 
They looked down in a valley and they saw a 
little dwarf, dancing and singing. 

The little dwarf was whirling a great spoon in 
the air. He sang, 

“Be it morning, night or noon, 

No one knows I’ve the magic spoon! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


119 


Then the little dwarfs rushed at him from one 
side, and the Babies rushed at him from the other 
side, and the magic spoon began to beat every¬ 
body, and at last they all ran back to the home of 
the little dwarfs. Where the magic spoon went 
nobody knew. 

Then the five and twenty little dwarfs cried, 

“ We will not cry, we will not sigh, 

The magic spoon will soon pass by! ” 

Pretty soon the magic spoon came dancing along 
and said, 

“I will go and hide upon your shelf, 

If you 11 let me go and help myself! ” 

The dwarfs replied, 

“ Oh magic spoon, ’tis very clear 
To every one, you’re welcome here.” 

The magic spoon was so pleased then that it 
began to stir the river that flowed by the little 
dwarfs’ home, and the river became solid gold! 

The little dwarfs sang, 

“ Ha! ha! ha! when we are old, 

We shall never want for gold! ” 


120 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Then they ran and got five and twenty little 
bags, and they began to break up the gold in the 
river and fill their bags. Still there was more gold 
than the little dwarfs could carry away. 

At last the little dwarfs were done working and 
the Ink-Bottle Babies were tired and sleepy and 
they said, “ Tell us a story, please.” 

Then one little dwarf told this story: 

Once upon a time there was a little dwarf who 
had a rocking-chair. 

The rocking-chair was a pretty one; it had 
golden rockers and golden arms. It was a very 
comfortable rocking-chair! One day a dwarf got 
into the chair. He was a very naughty dwarf. He 
would not say, “ Thank you,” and “ If you please.” 

Now, the chair took him for a ride and said, 

“ Say ‘ thank you for this ride/ 

Or you will have to stay inside! ” 

The naughty dwarf shook his head and cried, 

“ You 11 not teach me manners, I do declare, 

You funny little rocking-chair! ” 


The chair said, 


THE FAIRY BABIES 121 

. . : mdr 



“ You may laugh and cry and even shout, 
Without ‘ Thank you, Sir! 9 you don't get out! ” 

Then the dwarf began to laugh and cry and 
shout, for he was stuck fast in the rocking-chair, 
and he could not get out! 

Now the chair was in earnest and it rocked 
as fast as it could down to a river and the dwarf 
cried, 

“ What are you about? What are you about? 

If we rock in there, we will never get out! ” 

Splash! the chair went right into the water. It 
came up by and by and the little dwarf shouted, 

“ Thank you, thank you, please take me out, 

Thank you, thank you, I’ll laugh and shout! ” 




122 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


Then the chair took the dwarf out and set him 
on dry land. 

Now as soon as the dwarf was free he would 
not say “ Thank you,” again, and the chair said, 
“ I will teach him a lesson this time.” 

So the chair asked the little dwarf to take 
another ride, and he rocked him away, away, 
away up north to the land where the polar bear 
lives. Then he rocked him right into a snowdrift. 
The little dwarf nearly froze his toes and fingers, 
and the chair said, 

“ I’ll leave you in this drift of snow, 

For far away I soon will go! ” 

The dwarf was so scared at the idea of being 
left alone in the snowdrift that he said, 

“ I J 11 say to you on bended knees, 

Thank you, sir, and if you please.” 

Then the chair rocked the little dwarf safely 
home, and ever after he was so polite that if he 
even met a squirrel in the woods he would stop 
and say, “ Excuse me, sir, am I disturbing you? 
Thank you, sir, I will come this way again, if 
you please! ” 


THE FAIRY BABIES 


123 


This was the end of the story and the Ink- 
Bottle Babies set up a shout as usual. 

“ What became of the magic rocking-chair? ” 
they all shouted together. 

Then they clapped their hands softly, for they 
saw something rocking toward them! 

What do you suppose it was? 

It was the magic rocking chair! 

Then the dwarf who had told the story said, 

“ Tell the chair where you want to go; 

Ride away, ride away, singing ho! ho! ” 

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all climbed into the 
rocking-chair, and they shouted as they waved 
their twenty-five little pocket handkerchiefs, 

“ We wave good-bye with backward looks; 

We will ride into the story books! ” 

The magic chair began to rock, and it rocked 
the Ink-Bottle Babies away, away, away, into the 
Land of Story Books. 

If you use your eyes well, you may see the Ink- 
Bottle Babies some day! 

Did they ever come out of the books? Did 
they ever come home again? I did not remember 


124 


THE FAIRY BABIES 



ei We wave good-bye ” 


to ask them any questions. Perhaps you will meet 
them in school. 

The last I saw of them they were rocking away 
and they sang this song, 

“ Vacation time! Vacation time! 

’Tis an hour for song and rhyme; 

We are very happy, for what do you think? 
We all came out of a bottle of ink! 

The Ink-Bottle Babies in every clime, 

Cry, 4 Hurrah! hurrah! for vacation time! * ” 



Fairy Tales of Long Ago 

By Julia Darrow Cowles 


Grades 3-4 
128 Pages 


Cloth Binding 

Colored Illustrations 


Price, 60 Cents a Copy, Postpaid 

T RAIN a child’s imagination by feeding it with the fancies of 
great story-tellers, is a truism familiar to all teachers. There 
is nothing like the old fairy tales for nourishing young imagi¬ 
nations. This group of tales Mrs. Cowles has gathered from 
many sources and retold in charming fashion. That they have 
gained, rather than lost, by the retelling, will soon become ap¬ 
parent to teachers; for only the simplest words and phrases are 
used, and the narrative is so handled as to emphasize the home¬ 
ly lesson in manners or morals concealed in the story. _ 

These tales are full of action and delicious nonsense which 
accord with the child’s mode of living and thinking. Besides 
teaching the children to read, and furnishing them with much 
fine entertainment, these stories inculcate lessons in good- 
fellowship, usefulness, politeness, and agreeable 
wholesome living. 

The volume comprises fifteen stories, five of 
which are dramatized for schoolroom use. 

CONTENTS 

The Nightingale 
The Six Swans 
Bruno’s Picnic 
Ole Shut-Eyes 
Inger’s Loaf 

Southwest Wind Esquire 
The Three Lemons 
The Twelve Months 
A Mad Tea Party 
The Enchanted Mead 
The White Cat 
The Ugly Duckling 
The Miller’s Daughter 
Professor Frog’s Lecture 
The Spring in the Valley 

FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGO 












The Children of 
Mother Goose 

By JULIA DARROW COWLES 


For Grades 
Two and Three 

Illustrations 
in Colors 

128 Pages 
Cloth Binding 


THE CHILDREN Of MOTHER GOOSE 


Price, 60 Cents a Copy, Postpaid 

-|\ T ANY a young reader longs to know more 
about his favorite characters in Mother 
Goose—more than the short rhyme about each 
is able to tell him. In this collection of minia¬ 
ture stories, he has his wish gratified. Here 
he gets intimate glimpses of the home and 
community life of many old friends: Mistress 
Mary, Boy Blue, Peter Piper, Curly Locks, 
Crosspatch, Simple Simon, Jack and Jill, Tom¬ 
my Tinker, Bobby Shaftoe, and a host of 
others. 

It appears that the Mother Goose children 
are a healthy, fun-loving, workaday lot of 
youngsters, exactly like the boys and girls who 
read about them. They attend Dame Trot’s 
school. They give tea parties and Valentine 
parties. They take care of the babies of the 
Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe. They help 
the Crooked Man build himself a new chim¬ 
ney. Dr. Foster takes them walking in the 
woods and teaches them things about insects 
and spiders which every child is simply aching 
to know. Mother Goose herself presides de- 
Specimen Page lightfully over their revels. 

Teachers will find these stories, valuable for inculcating a love of reading in 
the child; first, because they are intrinsically fascinating, and second, because 
they quicken his mental powers by a shrewd application of some lesson in 
daily living. 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGO 



**/ wondir wkick goo$4 


"Oh, Mother Goose,” they oil cried, “your 
goose has laid a golden egg!” 

“Why, sure enough,” said Mother Goose 
“That must be my Easter present. I wonder 
which goose gave it to mel” 

Then Simple Simon waved his hand just 
as though he were in school, and said, “It 
was Jack-A-Dandy. I saw him put it in the 
nestf’ 














The Circus Cotton-Tails 


By 

LAURA ROUNTREE SMITH 
Illustrated by Fred Stearns 


<<T}LEASE tell us a laughing story,” pleaded a group of 
tenement children at the Settlement story hour. 

All children laugh when they read “The Circus Cotton-Tails” 
and how the merry little bunnies diligently practice their 
circus tricks while mischievous Bushy-Tail plays his tricks— 
whirling them off the merry-go-round, and stealing Susan 
Cotton-Tail’s cookies. How the cookies become alive and 
punish Bushy-Tail satisfies the little folk’s sense of justice. 
And they delight in the description of the big circus parade, 
and in the colored frontispiece and end sheets, to say nothing 
of the many fascinating black and white illustrations. 


128 pages. Cloth. 60 cents 


A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO 



JUST STORIES 


BY 


ANNIE KLINGENSMITH 

Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Gary. Indiana 
AUTHOR OF 

“Household Stories*'and “Norse Gods and Heroes* 


In “Just Stories” Miss Klingensmith has selected 
and adapted from the best in children’s literature 
more than thirty of the stories she considers especially 
needed in work with children in the third and fourth 
grades. They were originally printed as leaflets by 
Gary pupils and aroused an enthusiasm that demand¬ 
ed their continued existence. The illustrations are 
exceptionally good, and with the large, clear type, 
good paper, and durable binding, ‘Just Stories” is an 
unusually attractive book. 


128 Pages—Illustrated 
Cloth—60 Cents 



WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?* SAID THE LION' 
frustration from “Benjy in Beastland” —one of the stoFies./ 



























c c 

































